Alright, if you have your Bibles, I encourage you to open up to Luke 1. We're going to be looking at two songs. One song of praise by Mary. One song of prophecy by Zechariah. Both songs. give us the beautiful message of God's faithfulness, his steadfast love and strength, considering the birth of Jesus Christ. You know, the last week, this week, and then Christmas Eve, we'll be really unpacking the Christmas story, and not just a classic Luke 2 passage, though, that's what I'm gonna be looking at in Christmas Eve, but really, what does the birth of Christ reveal about who God is? It reveals his providence. It reveals his love and his mercy to us. And so I want to unpack these passages because it's not just about the event, but it's about what God has revealed to us through the birth of Christ. And a common theme for both of these songs that we're going to look at today is mercy. They highlight the mercy of God and the giving of his son, the visitation of God incarnate. And so I wanna look at these two together. Let's start with Mary's. Look with me at Luke 1, 46 through 55. And then we're gonna jump down to 67 through 79. So starting in verse 46, it says this, And Mary said, my soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. For he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed. For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever. Jump down to verse 67. And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied saying, blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies, from the hand of all who hate us, to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant. The oath that he swore to our father, Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all of our days. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people and the forgiveness of their sins because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. Let me pray. Lord God, I thank you for these songs. I thank you for your word. Lord, I pray that as I am preaching, Lord, that you would speak through me. Lord, that your text would come to life in our hearts. Lord, that we would see who you are through these passages. Lord, we love you. We thank you. And God, we pray that we would respond faithfully to your word. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, Mary's song is often referred to as the Magnificant, which means my soul magnifies the Lord, right? It's a song of praise, right? Similar to Hannah's prayer in 1 Samuel 2. Scholars debate whether Mary is quoting this passage or whether she is so steeped in scripture that this is the natural outpouring of her heart. But either way, this is a beautiful praise to God for the mercy and compassion that God has shown to her and to all of God's people as she looks forward to the birth of her son and the birth of the son of God. A little further in chapter one, we see Zachariah's song as he looks forward to not only the visitation of the Lord and Jesus Christ, but also his own son's role in preparing the way for the Lord. Both songs are so incredibly beautiful and important as we look at the birth of Christ and what it means for the nation of Israel and what it means for us today. The same mercy that was displayed by God in these prayers is the same mercy he grants us in Christ. And my hope for this sermon today is that we would walk away with a greater understanding of God's mercy towards his people from long ago and for us today. And so our main point this morning is this, the mercy of God is mightily displayed in the giving of his son for the salvation of his people. Last week we saw the providence of God through the giving of his son. God providentially chose Mary, caused her to become pregnant at a particular time and from a particular bloodline in a particular place for his glory and our redemption. And this morning we see both Mary and Zechariah, John the Baptist's father, respond in song concluding that God is mighty in mercy. And the reason this is good news is because we are desperately dependent on the mercy of God. May we in our own way respond in praise and adoration as we consider how God has been merciful to us. Let's start by looking at the first five verses of Mary's praise. It says this. And Mary said, my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God, my savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed. For he who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. Now this praise comes after Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth who in her old age has miraculously conceived a child who will prepare the way for Mary's child. As Mary greets Elizabeth, Elizabeth's child leaps in her womb. Elizabeth exclaims, blesser you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And they have this moment where they recognize the incredible mercy and faithfulness of God to both of them. Mary breaks out in a song of praise. In verse 46 and 47, she exclaims that her soul magnifies the Lord and her spirit rejoices in God, her savior. And this is not to say that her spirit and her soul are two different things, but instead this is Mary saying the same thing two different ways. I worship God. I worship the Lord. But she says something interesting at the end of verse 47. She says, God is her savior. Now, this is a small thing, but it's important. Mary recognizes her need for a savior. She is a sinner in need of a redeemer, just like every person on the face of the earth for all of history, right? All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All need a savior and God has provided a savior in his son. So she worships him and calls him savior. Mary continues in verse 48 and gives the reason for her jubilant praise. She says, for, or because, he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. Referring to herself. God, the holy one of heaven, creator of heaven and earth, the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God of the universe, looked upon this humble, lowly 14 or 15 year old girl with favor, showing mercy to her and blessing her by allowing her to carry the son of God who will redeem her from her sins. She has the privilege to carry her own redeemer. And because of this mercy upon her life, Because it is mercy, as we will see in verse 50, all generations will call her blessed. She recognizes, I need a savior. She recognizes that this is mercy. She recognizes that she does not deserve what has just happened to her. And from now on, because of what God has done, all generations will call her blessed. In verse 49, she makes clear that her being called blessed is not because of anything that she has done or because of who she is, but because of what God has done and who he is. She says, God has done mighty and great things for me. His name is holy. Not, I'm so glad that God recognized how great I am and how awesome I am, right? But she says, no, no, God has done great things because God is holy. and I am his servant. Mary is not elevating herself, but instead saying, there was no reason for God to pick this lowly girl, and yet he did. He is holy, and he has done mighty works in my life. All praise to him. Then in verse 50, she almost gives an invitation. This mercy from a holy God is available to all those who fear him. God is merciful towards those who fear him and have a humble heart. God's mercy is displayed towards those who stand in awe of him and worshipfully obey him. Now, I wanna qualify this statement with the reality that the only way that we come to fear God is because he has revealed himself and turned our hearts to him. It is the work of God that we fear him and it is the work of God that we are shown mercy. Even so, the call to fear him and receive his mercy remains. Mercy is what she has experienced, and she invites all to experience his mercy through the fear of God. It's not only for a particular people, group, or tribe, but his mercy is for all, from generation to generation. Look at Psalm 105, it almost echoes this. For the Lord is good, his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. And this word mercy, if we unpack it in the Old Testament, also can be translated steadfast love. And so we can read that verse to say, for the Lord is good, his mercy endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. Doesn't this passage, doesn't this song of Mary reflect that his mercy is carrying on from generation to generation, that it's steadfast, that it's never changing, that it will always be? Mercy is God's love despite what we actually deserve, right? For those who surrender to God as their Lord, for those who humble themselves to the right position of servant, oh, the riches of his mercy that you will experience. And as we see in Zechariah's song of prophecy, God's mercy upon those who fear him is the giving of his son so that we may be forgiven of our sins. Christ is the greatest agency of mercy. I was reading an article recently and the author said that the death of Christ is the display of God's mercy, for that was our death that we deserved. And the resurrection is the display of God's grace, for he now offers life to us. God's grace is not possible without God's mercy. Ephesians 2, four through five says this. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. So these ideas of mercy and grace are intertwined. And so as we read this passage, it almost sounds like they're talking about grace, but we have this foundation of mercy that grace springs from. But just as God is merciful towards those who are humble and fear him, he's also strong towards those who reject him. Mary moves from fearing God with humility and receiving mercy to being, in her passage, to talking about those who are prideful and those who are mighty and exalt themselves. Look at verse 51 to 53. He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty. Josh, I thought this was supposed to be an uplifting Christmas message and now we're talking about God sending away people and his arm being strong against people. But the reality is Mary is still praising God. This is still an exaltation. She is praising him for his justice revealed against Israel's enemies, those who oppose God. She is praising him for his strength to those who put themselves above him. She's praising him for bringing down those who prop themselves up as mighty at the expense of the lowly. God is perfect in righteousness and justice, and for those who are prideful and do not worship God in their obedience, he scatters them as opposed to drawing them near, as James speaks of. Look at this passage in James 4. Or do you suppose that it is to no purpose that the scripture says, he yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us, but he gives more grace. Therefore it says, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. And so in our passage, we have him scattering the proud, and in this James passage, we have him drawing those who are humble near. And Mary says, I praise you for your justice and your righteousness. For those who oppose you, you have scattered, but those who are humble, you've brought near. God makes those whose stomachs are full flee as those who are hungry are filled. Mary once again is painting a clear picture here of a God of mercy to the oppressed and to the hurting, the humble and the lowly, the weak and the hungry. God is not impressed by power. He's not impressed by authority. He's not impressed by riches or collections. I think it's funny. especially during the holiday seasons, we tend to make our house nice, right? We decorate it and we put up things. We put up the Christmas tree. We hang lights. We bring out all the decorations and we invite people over. We make sure the house is clean. I'm guilty of this. Anytime we have Jen's family over, I'm cleaning like a mad person because I want to prove to her family, look, look what I could provide for Jen. Look at the life that I can give her. But our passage talks about God filling the hungry and him coming near to those who are oppressed and who are hurting. He doesn't expect us to clean ourselves up. He doesn't expect us to make sure everything is neat and ready so that he could come in. I think that's really interesting as we think about Christmas and how we carry ourselves during the Christmas season. Mary's not saying that it's wrong to have food or have authority, but to elevate yourself and these things above God and what he expects of his servants is rebellious and idolatry, right? Because Mary contrasts those who fear God and those who don't, we can conclude that those who are proud and rich or mighty are those who do so without fearing God, without worshipful obedience. God is praised for his mercy towards the downcast and the oppressed, but he's also praised for his strength towards those who rebel against him. He's not only gentle and merciful, he's also righteous and holy. To end our song, Mary looks back on Israel's history and points to God's mercy just as he had promised to display to Israel's father, Abraham and his offspring forever. Look at verse 54 through 55. He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever. God's mercy to his people is not random, but it's intertwined with his covenants with his people for this is who God is. Mary would have the covenants in mind. She would have the Old Testament in mind as she's singing this song. And she remembers the promises to her father. She remembers the promises to Abraham. She's remembering the covenants. And in this moment, she says, you remembered. You remembered your covenant, you remembered your mercy. God's mercy is connected, it's intertwined, it's foundational to his covenants with his people. God has this relational covenant with his people Israel. He had promised mercy to them and because he is faithful, because mercy and grace and love is who he is, he displays his mercy to them. Mary ends her praise of God by declaring that he has helped Israel in remembrance of his mercy because mercy is what was promised to them. Not because they were worthy, but because he is merciful. Look at Exodus 2, 23 through 25. It says this, during those many days, the king of Egypt died and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God and God heard their groaning and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel and God knew. As we're reading through Deuteronomy and the Pentateuch and we're studying it and we're diving into it, the reason why it is so important to do that is because the mercy of God in the New Testament is so much sweeter when we understand the thousands of years of unfaithfulness that his people showed and the faithfulness and mercy that God shows. Zachariah's song after John the Baptist was born continues this theme of mercy in relationship to covenant. Zachariah's song is one long sentence in the original language, but he has two parts. And his first part, 67 through 75 is praising God for what he will do in relation to what he's promised Israel. Look at verses 67 through 75 with me. And his father, Zechariah, was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant. the oath that he swore to our father Abraham to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. Zechariah's song is a song of prophecy, and in Latin it's called the Benedictus. Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit. He looks forward to what God is about to do and declares that he will visit his people, that God, that God will visit his people. The son of God incarnate will come. And not only will he visit his people spiritually and physically, but he will redeem those people. And in fact, that's the purpose of his coming, that he will rescue and redeem his people. And this visiting, redeeming Lord is the horn of salvation, promised from the line of David, like we looked at last week. He will be strong and powerful as the word horn indicates. He will save his people. Now this takes two forms in Zechariah's prophecy. He will save his people through redemption and he will save his people through deliverance from enemies. Jesus will indeed redeem his people. He will, And he'll expand on this in verses 76 through 79, but he will also free his people from their enemies. Now this can be taken to mean several different things. We know that Christ is the resurrection, at the resurrection, crushed the head of Satan. He was victorious as he walked out of that tomb. Sin and death and Satan were defeated and disarmed, but there is an already not yet nature concerning deliverance, right? Israel is freed from their enemies and that their enemies hold no power over them, but there is a deliverance coming for all those who place their faith in Christ that has yet to happen and will happen at Christ's second coming. The mercy of God to his covenant people is a multifaceted thing and that we experience it now in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ and in the life to come that's promised for all those who place their faith in him. There's a mercy not yet to be experienced in the second coming of Christ. Jesus is this Davidic king. He has come and he did redeem his people, but we are saved and yet we are being saved, right? This already not yet. God's display of mercy is greatest on the cross and reaches through time and space and will eternally be experienced in the new creation when he delivers us completely. The coming of Christ is this inaugural event where redemption is announced, it's accomplished, and yet it's promised. And for what purpose? Zacharias says that we without fear may serve him in righteousness and holiness all of our days. That God has visited his people, he's redeemed his people, he's delivered them from their enemies. For what purpose? So that we may serve him in righteousness and holiness all of our days. That begins now and it expands into eternity. The purpose and ultimate outworking of God's mercy is to create for himself a people who because of his mercy will serve him in joy and righteousness and holiness. This is our present. This is where we're at. And yet this is our future. And it's all because our God is merciful. His steadfast love endures forever. The King has come to rescue. The Lamb has come to take the penalty. The Redeemer is here. The Rescuer has come. This is the praise of Zachariah and Mary's song. God has kept his promise just as Deuteronomy 7, 9 said he would. Look at Deuteronomy 7, 9. It says, know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful who keeps his covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations. Our passage and what follows is the beginning of the end of the old covenant and the introduction to the new covenant in Christ. Christ is the promised Davidic king who has come to redeem and rescue his people and at the same time is calling all nations and all tribes and all tongues to himself to join a new covenant, one not based on the law or duty but on his grace and his work. mercy for Israel, mercy for his people, ultimately displayed in the salvation that Christ brings. Which brings us to the latter part of Zechariah's prophecy. 76 through 79, it says this, And you, child, speaking of John the Baptist, will be called the prophet of the most high, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people and the forgiveness of their sins because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace. In this section, Zechariah is speaking of the role his son will play and what God is about to do. Notice that John the Baptist, which is the child that's being referred to here, is called the prophet of the most high. Whereas Jesus is the son of the most high, right? The child here does not bring salvation, but merely knowledge of the salvation to come. Jesus is that salvation that he'll be referring to. Jesus is that salvation that he's preparing the way for. Jesus is the one whom John is preparing a way for, who will forgive his people for their sins. Why? Because of the tender mercy of God, mightily displayed on the cross, taking the sins of his people, absorbing the wrath of the father. I was reading recently and somebody described in very simple terms, the mercy of God is like not receiving a punishment when you're a child, not going to timeout. And grace was like getting an ice cream cone. When we think about it like that, the mercy of God, Christ took the punishment. Christ absorbed the wrath of the father so that no wrath would be poured out on you. So that instead what should be poured out on Jesus is poured out on you. As he took your place, we may take his place. God's mercy is foundational concerning salvation. I love that salvation spoken of here is not salvation from an earthly enemy necessarily, but salvation from sin and the wrath against sinners. The greatest issue that the Savior will come and address is not an earthly oppressor, but the sins of his people. His mercy is on those who need a savior, those who need their sins forgiven. Jesus is coming to free slaves, not from an aggressive abuse of King, but from the very real sentence that their sin brings them. Zachariah roots this salvation in the tender mercy of God. or we could say the tender, steadfast love of God. His salvation is not out of obligation, but it's rooted in His very mercy and love. It's rooted in His character. Jesus has come that mercy may be tangible, that we may taste and see that the Lord is good, that glorious grace may make much of His name. I love verse 78 and 79, comparing Jesus coming to a sunrise over a dark and shadowy place. The New Testament is very clear in its picture of those who are in sin are those who are in darkness. And now there's a sunrise coming. Look at John 1, 1-4. It says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. Jesus' coming is a sunrise. It was prophesied thousands of years ago. Darkness will finally lift. Light has come in. Look at Revelation 21, 22 through 25. I love this picture. And I saw no temple in this city for its temple is the Lord God, the almighty and the lamb. And this city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it for the glory of God gives it light. And its lamp is the lamb. By its light will the nations walk and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it and its gates will never be shut by day and there'll be no night there. This light has come in the person of Jesus Christ. The sunrise has come. Light shines in the darkness. Shining mercy and love in the darkest places of our heart. This light guides us into his peace. And this peace, which we'll talk about on Christmas Eve, is not an absence of conflict, but a reconciliation with the Father. This is the mercy of God, that he looks upon the lowly and the humble, that he brings justice to the oppressed, that he has freed us from our sins, and that he has redeemed his people. that He will deliver us from our enemies in order that we would serve Him in righteousness and justice for all of our days. This Christmas, I want to encourage us to really think through the mercy of God. I want us to consider, I want us to marvel at the mercy of God. The mercy that He displayed in the giving of a son. for the forgiveness of our sins. I know for me, marveling at his mercy is something that I struggle to do because instead of looking at his mercy with thanksgiving and gratitude, I often feel as if when I've disappointed God or I've done something wrong, I feel like there needs to be this distance. I talked about this at the most recent flock that I was at. We tend to want to hide ourselves when we feel like we've disappointed God or maybe we haven't lived up to what we think his standards are. We distance ourselves. Really, it's a failure to understand what mercy is. I fail to understand and believe that His mercies are new every morning. I fail to understand and believe that His mercies are never failing. I fail to believe that His mercy is steadfast. I fail to believe that He will be merciful over and over and over again. For some reason, I think there's something, and maybe you could share this as well, but there's something that we feel like it's gonna run out. that the tap is gonna be turned off, that the mercy will be done, and the judgment will have to be dealt out. But instead of hiding and retreating, let us come to God with confidence, marveling at his mercy upon us, that we don't deserve, that we never could deserve, and allow him to shower us in his mercy, shower us in the grace that he promises us, Second, let us be merciful to those around us for we have been shown great mercy in Christ. One of the beautiful parts about Christmas is that we get to display towards others in our kindness and our love and our generosity, what Christ has shown to us. And so this Christmas, be intentional about looking for opportunities to display the mercy of God. I have a friend who in his parenting, this child will do something and if we're over at his house, I'll come to the table and he'll just say, I'm really trying to decide whether I'm going to display God's justice or God's mercy to my child right now. This Christmas, look for opportunities to display God's mercy. Look for opportunities to say, I forgive you, or it's okay. And this is why that's so, because this is what Christ has done for me. This is what Christ has shown us. Thirdly, let us serve God. Zechariah's passage says that we've been shown a great mercy so that we may serve him, right? Let us serve him from the foundation of mercy. He does not say this to gild us into serving God or to place a weight of responsibility on us, but to help us understand that we are no longer held captive by sin, but to serve God as we were created to do so. The beautiful thing about this passage, when Zachariah talks about serving God, is that that's what we were created to do. We were created to worship Him. We were created to serve Him. We were created for His glory. And so we have this backwards idea that we think that being free to serve God is somehow another burden. It's somehow another captivity. But the reality is that's what we were created to gain the most joy from. And so we're free this Christmas. We are free because of the mercy of God to serve Him with joy. So this Christmas, look for those opportunities to serve God. And those last two may be tied together, that as you're displaying mercy to those around us, you're also serving God by making much of his name. I hope that as we reflect on Christmas, we reflect on this passage, we look at Christmas Eve at the peace that God offers us. that we will have a greater and more broad idea of who God has revealed himself to be in not just an event, but in his mercy and his providence and his peace. Let's pray. Lord God, I'm so grateful that you have shown us mercy. Lord, that you did not completely crush us, which is what we deserved. but instead you crushed your son. You dealt out wrath upon your son so that we could be free, so that our sins could be forgiven. And as Mary did, we praise you this morning. We praise you for your faithfulness. We praise you for your mercy displayed in the visitation of Jesus Christ. And Lord, we pray that as we think through These beautiful revelations of who you are this Christmas season, Lord, that we would seek to display that to those around us. That others may see Jesus in the way that we're merciful, that others may see Jesus in the way that we serve you. Lord, we're so grateful and I pray that our worship would be fueled by our understanding of your mercy. Lord, we love you and we thank you in Jesus' name, amen.