Just because you didn't get a card this morning doesn't mean you're not special. We can't give everybody a $25 gift card. It's just not feasible. And we're not that kind of church anyway. There are churches that actually do that, give money to come to your service. When you've got to pay people to come to your church, that's pretty bad. That's pretty bad. So anyhow, but there's people that are like that, and they'll go to a church so they can get something from it. And it's no longer about what you can do for the Lord, it's about the person, it's about people. Churches have become all about people nowadays. And it shouldn't be that way. It shouldn't be about me, it should be about the Lord. It shouldn't be about you, it should be about the Lord. But somehow that thing's got turned around. All right, let's take our Bibles here this morning, Luke chapter number one. And I'll give you another second to turn there, and while you turn there, I'll just read a couple of these things here. Somebody had said, I asked to switch seats on a plane because I was next to a crying baby. Evidently, that doesn't work if it's your baby. When you finally have time for a girls' night and you realize your entire wardrobe went out of style in 2003. Yeah, that's true, too. Some of you parents understand that, mamas. It says, I don't want to sleep like a baby, I want to sleep like my husband. Now that is true. I have to admit, that is true. I'm thankful for my wife on that one. She's the one that got up with the baby most nights anyway. I told my mom I thought parenting got easier as the kids get older. She laughed so hard she cried a little. I could just picture that. And then there's nothing quite like being told I'm wrong by someone who depends on me for food, clothing, and shelter. Yeah. Well, anyway, all right. So we hope you have a good Mother's Day today. All right. I'm not going to be long this morning. Let's see here. It's about 1130 or so right now. So we're just going to give you what we've got. Luke chapter number one, and we're going to pick it up in verse number 26. Luke chapter number one and verse number 26. And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin, a spouse to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her and said, Hailed thou that art highly favored. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever. and of His kingdom there shall be no end." That's a reference to Jesus Christ. Verse 34 says, then said Mary unto the angel, how shall this be seeing I know not a man? She hadn't known a man so how can you have a baby if you don't know a man? And so, you know, that's just…it's scientifically impossible and the world doesn't understand that today evidently, right? Verse 35, and the angel answered and said unto her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing, so Jesus Christ was called 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 was called barren. "'For with God nothing shall be impossible.'" Now that's a great verse right there we could preach from, but in the context of this thing, it's talking about a pregnancy here. "'For with God nothing shall be impossible. "'And Mary said, behold, the handmaid of the Lord, "'be it unto me according to thy word, "'and the angel departed from her. 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. Notice it was a babe in the womb. It wasn't the fetus, it wasn't tissue, it was a baby, okay? Verse 45 said, and blessed is she that believed, for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord. And I'll stop right there. But what we notice in chapter number one is that Gabriel had visited Mary according to verse number 26. And Gabriel is an angel that sent from God to Mary with a message. And that's what angels are, is angels are messengers and they send God's message. And Gabriel had brought a message from God and he told her that Mary was gonna have a miracle. that Mary was gonna be used greatly of God, that Mary had found favor in the eyes of God, and so she was gonna have something miraculous to take place. In verse number 28, he said, thou art highly favored, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women. And then down in verse number 30, the angel said, for thou hast found favor with God. And so she's found favor. Man, you find favor with God, you found a great thing. The Bible talks about finding different things with God. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. So it's a great thing to find some of those positive things in the eyes of God. But he told her of the great miracle, and this miracle was the virgin birth. And we find that in verse number 31, and then down in verse 34, then said Mary unto the angel, how shall this be seeing I know not a man? I mean, I'm a spouse to a man, but I've had no physical relationship with a man. So how can I have a baby seeing that I know not a man? And then verse 35 says, and the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God. In other words, the virgin birth. So you're not gonna have to have a man involved with this because God's gonna make a miracle happen here, and it's gonna happen through the Holy Ghost. Now notice what Mary does next. Mary went to the hillside. She went to see her cousin Elizabeth. We notice that down in verse number 39. And Mary arose in those days and went in the hill country with haste into a city of Judah. And where she went to is she went to Zacharias and Elizabeth's house. And she wanted to go tell her cousin Elizabeth this great news of what this angel had told and spoken unto her. And so Mary had went to the hill country. So what you're gonna see in the passage is you're gonna see two women, and these women here, they're in the hill country, and that's where Elizabeth lives, is on higher ground. And then higher ground usually means this thing of, it means a position that you have that's an advantage. That's what higher ground means. That's that saying that we have on higher ground is when someone has an advantage and sometimes it's used in the case of someone who has a better position to be able to see things more clearly. And so they can make a more, more wiser, make a wiser decision because they have an advantage. But here in our text, we see two women that are standing here in verse number 39 and verse number 40, and they're standing there in the hill country, and they're sharing together what would become the greatest news that this world has ever heard. I mean, the greatest news that this world has ever heard is the virgin birth, that the Son of God has come to this earth. Why? Because He's gonna save His people from their sins. He's gonna save you and I from our sins. That's the greatest news that could ever be told. So I would say that Mary and Elizabeth were on higher ground, wouldn't you? I'd say they're on higher ground. Now, it seems that Elizabeth had spent her life on higher ground, and it seems like that's where she lived according to verse number 40 there. But if you'll notice with me in verse number five, the Bible said, there was in the days of Herod, the king of Judah, a certain priest named Zacharias of the course of Abia, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth." Now watch what the Bible says in verse number 6, "'And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord.'" Watch that now, blameless. and they were walking in all the commandments and the ordinances of the Lord, blameless. Well, that's a great thing right there. That shows you some things about Old Testament salvation, really, because really, you're still in the Old Testament. Jesus Christ has not died on the cross at this point. This is pre-Calvary, and here they are, they're walking in the ordinances and the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, and the Bible said blameless. And so not only were these two women, not only were they, physically on higher ground because they were both pregnant, and both of them were miraculous pregnancies when you study both of them. Elizabeth was past childbearing years, but yet she still was going to have a baby because nothing is impossible with God. But then also you have Mary, which is the virgin birth. Now you and I know that had to be God. That's the only way that that can happen. So not only were these two women on higher ground physically, but also we see here in verse number six that Elizabeth was on higher ground spiritually. She walked in all the commandments and ordinances blameless. And so she not only was physically on higher ground, but spiritually on higher ground. So our message this morning is entitled On Higher Ground. We see two women here and we wanna focus in on Elizabeth throughout the text and what kind of woman that Elizabeth was this morning. Like I said, I'm not gonna be very long, so if you'll hang with me, we should be done shortly. But we wanna say, first of all, that Elizabeth was on higher ground because she was a praying woman. She was a praying woman. This woman prayed. Now, you may not see that in the text clearly, but I believe after we read a few scriptures, you'll understand where I'm coming from. We notice in verse six that she was righteous before God. She was righteous before God. You know, it'd be kind of hard to be righteous before God and not have a prayer life. It'd be kind of hard to have that, wouldn't it? So she was righteous before God. Now, most of us should know that good works cannot get you and I into heaven. Isn't that right? I mean, right now, today in the church age, we're on this side of Calvary, and good works cannot get you into heaven. You can't go to heaven on your good works. Titus chapter three and verse number five, Paul said, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us. So it's not by works of righteousness we have done. It's not by works that you and I can be saved. But Elizabeth and her husband did not live in the same time or the same dispensation that you and I live in. We live in a different time period. We live on this side of Calvary and Elizabeth and Zachariah lived on the other side of Calvary. So what we find in verse number six, is that they had to walk righteous before God. They had to walk in the commandments and the ordinances of the Lord, blameless. That's what we call Old Testament salvation. Old Testament salvation, it was faith and works. Now, hold your place right there and let me show you something. Let me show you something. You say, well, I haven't been taught that before. I've been taught differently. Well, let me just show you something from the Bible. And if you believe the Bible, then you have to come to the conclusion that something's different. But look in Matthew chapter number 19. Matthew chapter number 19. You'll remember there's a story of this rich young ruler. And he comes up to the Lord, and this is what he's gonna say in Matthew chapter 19. I'll read it to you here, beginning in verse number 16. It says, and behold, one came and said unto him, good master, what good thing shall I do that I may have what? eternal life. So this Jew, under the Old Testament, pre-Calvary, before Jesus Christ dies on the cross, goes to the Lord Jesus Christ and says, hey man, what good thing can I do that I may have eternal life? And notice that he says the actual words, eternal life. The response that you and I would give, I'm gonna submit this to you, would be different than the response the Lord gave here. Now watch this, look at verse number 17. And he said unto him, in other words, the Lord said unto this what they call rich young ruler, he said, why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God. But if thou would enter into life, keep the commandments. I think there's a period at the end of that, isn't there? Now isn't that strange advice to give somebody that wants eternal life is to tell him to keep the commandments? It's not strange at all if you know your Bible and you rightly divide it. Then you understand the time period in which you're at. You're pre-Calvary before the dying on the cross and before the barren resurrection. Wonder why he didn't tell him to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Isn't that how you and I get saved? It is, but something's different. Why? Because you're still under the Old Testament law. You can't have the New Testament until Jesus Christ dies. Hebrews chapter number nine. Now let's read on in verse number 18. He saith unto him which, and Jesus said, thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, honor thy father and thy mother, and thou shalt love thy neighbors thyself. And the young man said unto him, All these things have I kept for my youth up, what lack I yet? And Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me. Nowhere in there do you find, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Why? Because you're in a different time period here in Matthew chapter 19. just as you are in Luke chapter number one. They walked in the commandments and the ordinance of the Lord blameless because that was a part of how they were gonna be saved. It's faith and works in the Old Testament. And you see that here in Matthew chapter 19, when the Lord talks to this rich young ruler. Now there's a multitude, a plethora of other verses that we could go to, but I'll leave it at that here this morning. Right now, if you wanna be saved, it's simply trusting Jesus Christ as your savior. It's trusting the death, burial, and resurrection for God to save you. You ain't going out of here, according to 1 Thessalonians chapter four, unless you believe in the death, burial, and resurrection. That's the only way a man is saved right now. But we're on this side of Calvary. We're not on the other side of Calvary. And you can't believe in the death, burial, and resurrection until you have a death, burial, and resurrection. I mean, if you're not careful, you end up being Calvinistic in your theology because that's akin to what the Calvinists teach as well, is that you can believe in Jesus Christ before Jesus Christ even shows up. So you're saved before you're even saved. That's, I mean, it's a strange theology is what it is, but that's Calvinistic theology. And so, you know, here works is a part of their salvation, but for you and me, it's not. Paul said in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God and not of works, lest any man should boast. See that? It's not of works. Paul said in Titus 3 in verse number five, not by works of righteousness. In Ephesians 2 in verse number nine, he said it's not of works, lest any man should boast. So works can't save you this morning. Water baptism, it won't save you. You can have five or six baptismal certificates hanging on your wall and still die and go to hell. You can have all the works piled up that you possibly can have, but if you've never trusted in the shed blood of Jesus Christ, You will die and go to a devil's hell. You must be saved this morning. Jesus said, you must be born again. And that's how a person is saved today. So Elizabeth was on higher ground, I believe, because she was a, I mean, she was a saved woman. I believe she was a praying woman. And so she was a praying woman. And so, you know what we need? Certainly we need praying mamas here this morning, don't we? You know, we're gonna try to put in a little bit of Mother's Day stuff here as we go along too. I mean, there's no doubt that Elizabeth was a praying woman. In verse number 13, the Bible said in Luke chapter one, verse 13, but the angel said unto him, fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard. And thy wife, Elizabeth, shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. There's no doubt in my mind that this was a praying family, that she was a praying woman. And so mamas, what we need is mamas that pray for their children. We need mamas that'll pray with their children, mamas that'll pray that their children carry on the faith. Nowadays, we live in, kids are reaching certain ages and they're just giving up on God. They're getting out of church and quitting on God and that kind of thing. But you know what we need? We need mamas that will instill faith into their children. Do you know Moses' mother instilled faith into him? Do you know that it was the faith of a mother that delivered a devil-possessed daughter in Matthew chapter number 15? When you study the life of Paul and Timothy, you're gonna find out that Timothy, he had faith, why? Because of his mother and his grandmother. The Bible said in 2 Timothy 1.5, when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that in thee also. And so Paul says, Timothy, I recognize that there's something in you that's right. It's not un-fiend. I'm trying to think of the definition of un-fiend. Fiend is hypocritical. Fiend is acting. It's kind of like Hollywood does. The movie stars and all that, they're acting. They're hypocrites is what they are. They're pretending to be something or somebody that they're not. And that's what a fiend is, is a hypocrite. So un-fiend faith would be un-hypocritical faith. It's not acting faith. You know, somebody's not acting the part. You're not acting like you've got faith. You have faith. And that's what Paul was talking about. And Timothy's mother taught him the word of God as a child, according to 2 Timothy 3 and verse number 15. He says, and that from a child that has known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. So it took mothers, it took women to do this. This is what happens when you got some praying mamas in the home. You can change your children's lives. And that's what we need today is we need mamas that'll pray for their children to grow up and live for God. But then we also see in the passage here, we see Elizabeth was on higher ground because she was a patient woman. She was a patient woman. In verse number 24 and 25, it says, and after those days, his wife Elizabeth conceived and hid herself five months, saying, thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me to take away my reproach among men. So Elizabeth in verse number 24, she kept this thing secret. She was patient with it. She kept it secret. She held it for five months. She didn't tell anybody. Isn't that something? Now, Zacharias couldn't tell anybody, and I'll show you why here in just a moment. He couldn't talk. He got to where he couldn't talk. But anyway, she didn't tell anybody. She kept it within. Well, she was a patient woman. What an amazing woman with amazing patience. I mean, you know, some women will tell, I'm not saying all women, some women will tell everything you know just like that. You know, I mean, five minutes, let alone five months, you know. But anyway, Elizabeth displays patience. Elizabeth took the time to be alone with God and to praise God for a great act on God's part. I mean, her public rejoicing in her mind and her heart, it could wait as far as public rejoicing goes. She was at God's disposal and God's timetable. There was plenty of time to tell others about this great news later on. She understood that. She wanted to praise God and she wanted to wait and be patient. So for five months, she didn't tell anybody about this thing. Now, if you talk to women who've carried a baby, you probably, and if you're a woman that's carried a baby for nine months, then you've probably come to the conclusion that you better have some patience, because nine months seems like an eternity. especially when you start getting along that last stage there, you know, and it's just like, man, just get this thing out of me. Right. That's the that's why I've heard several women say that. And and some women will be like, you wait till I have this baby. I'm going to kill you. You know, that kind of mentality. What have you done to me? But anyway, you know, but that's, you know, it takes patience, you know, to have a baby and to keep this for five months to herself. I mean, that was a great thing with great patience. I mean, what we need is patience, mothers with patience, and the patience of praying mothers has changed lives. I wonder how many sons and maybe you're here this morning, I wonder if you have a mother that's a praying mother that's been praying for you to get saved, how long are you gonna keep your mama praying for you to trust Jesus Christ as your savior? I mean, how long are you gonna have her praying for you? I mean, if you're here today and you're lost, how long are you gonna keep your mama praying? Listen, let me encourage you to trust Jesus Christ today. You say, well, I'm saved. Well, then get right with God. She's been praying for you to get right with God. Maybe you've gotten wrong with God. Well, get right with God, but mom has been praying for you. So what we see is Elizabeth is on higher ground because she has patience in prayer. Then number three, we see Elizabeth was on higher ground because she provoked great things in others. She provoked great things in others. In verse number 41, The Bible says, and it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb. Isn't that something? I mean, here's some news that this baby heard it and the baby leap, which is John the Baptist, which would become, be John the Baptist, he leaped in her womb. The mother's womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost, the Bible said. 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 blessed is she that believed. For there shall be a performance of those things which were told her. from the Lord. What you're gonna notice here is that Elizabeth was on higher ground because she provoked great things in her friend, her cousin, Mary. And we see that Mary here arrives at Elizabeth's house in verse number, oh, verse number 40. She arrives there, she enters into the house, and she arrives there, and Elizabeth didn't hinder Mary's excitement. I mean, Mary came with the greatest news the world's ever heard, and Elizabeth didn't say, oh, well, wait a second, I've got some news to tell you, too. Wait till you hear my story. You know, a lot of times we can steal the thunder from other people, can't we? I mean, somebody's got something exciting that they wanna tell you, and then instead of just rejoicing with them and being excited with them, you know what we do? We try to butt in and say, oh, but listen to what God did for me. Well, okay, we'll just, maybe sometimes you just wanna pull the reins back a little bit and wait, and be excited for your friend, be excited for the other person. As a matter of fact, Elizabeth counted Mary's news even greater than her own in verse number 43. She said, and when is this to me that thy, excuse me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? I mean, she thought it a great thing. Now here's Mary, the mother of my Lord coming unto me. So she thought her news didn't be greater than her own pregnancy. And so, you know, Mary was provoking a great thing in her friend here. And so it appears that Elizabeth rejoiced more over the news that Mary was pregnant. I mean, she could have said, Well, I'm nine months pregnant too. She could have said that. I mean, she didn't. Instead, in verse 42, she said, blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. Now, Elizabeth saw something just as great or greater in Mary's pregnancy than she saw in her own. And you know what? When we hear good news from other people, we ought to rejoice with them. I mean, we ought to be excited for them. We truly should be excited for them. And how many women do you know that are like that today? I mean, Elizabeth saw great things in others even though there were great things in herself. So I'd say these women were on the mountaintop, wouldn't you? I mean, one woman couldn't have children. She was well stricken in years, in age. And now she's got the news that she's gonna have a baby. I mean, she's on higher ground, right? You got the other one, Mary, she's gonna give birth to the Son of God. I mean, you could definitely say she's on higher ground. So physically, these ladies, they're on higher ground. These women truly are on the mountaintop. Now, how can we leave out a great truth of Mary is the fact that she carries God's Son. Now, the Bible said, beginning in verse 46, and Mary said, my soul doth magnify the Lord. I mean, she's just worshiping the Lord now at this point. And she says in verse 47, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior, for he hath regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden. In other words, she's humble in herself right now. She, her speech is showing her humility right now. She said, for behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed for he that is mighty hath done to me 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 empty away. He hath opened his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy and he spake to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever and Mary abode with her about three months and returned her own house. Mary was there for three months. I mean, just the two of them. You know what they were? They were there in the hill country, wasn't they? They both were there in the hill country together for three months. They were on the mountaintop. They were on higher ground for an entire three months together. These two ladies were. But eventually, Elizabeth Baby was born, and they named him John. And Zacharias couldn't speak throughout this whole ordeal. The Bible tells us in verse number 20, And because of his unbelief, God said, I'm not gonna let you talk for a while. Through the entire pregnancy of Elizabeth, you're not gonna be able to speak. And look what happened after this thing came to pass here in verse number 60, oh, verse number 64. It says, and his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake and praised God. See, now he can talk. He couldn't talk during the whole thing there. Probably she was happy and excited about that too. She's probably rejoicing and praising God for that. Yeah, he can't talk now. And his mouth was opened immediately, in verse 64, and his tongue loosed, and he spake and praised God, and fear came on all that dwell around about them, and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judea. See that? I mean, they were on a mountaintop. They were all on higher ground. But after the birth of the baby John, he could speak. Now Elizabeth and Mary were two mothers that were on higher ground. We saw that Elizabeth was a praying woman, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. No doubt she was a patient woman. She kept her pregnancy quiet for six months and didn't tell others as she praised God inwardly. And she brought the best out in others. That was what Elizabeth did. She brought out the best in others as she rejoiced with her cousin Mary about her great news concerning the birth of the Son of God. These two women were truly on higher ground.