If you turn in your Scriptures now to the Gospel of Luke. This morning we'll be in chapter 1. I believe that's on page 1016 of your few Bibles. We'll begin reading at verse 26, mostly for context. We're preaching the Word this morning. will be on verses 39 through 45. Let's give attention to the holy, the inspired, the infallible Word of God, Luke 1, beginning at verse 26. In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you. But she was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb, bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. And Mary said to the angel, How will this be, since I am a virgin? And the angel answered her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called Holy, the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth is in her old age, or in her old age, has also conceived a son. And this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God. And Mary said, behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her. In those days, Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country to a town in Judah. And she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leapt in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she exclaimed with a loud cry, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leapt for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord. Amen. Praise be to God. Please be seated. Would you pray with me? Our Father and our God, we thank you for this passage. We thank you, Lord God, for this recordation of the events leading up to the birth of Jesus Christ. We thank you for Luke. We thank you for inspiring him. We thank you for allowing this word to reach our ears this morning. And now, Father, we pray, Holy Spirit, give us hearing ears. Convict us of sin, Father, and then, we pray, remind us of the promises in Christ and help us to rejoice. Help us to be those who rejoice in the presence of Christ. We ask this in His name. Amen. What is your reaction to Jesus? To the presence of Jesus Christ? How do you perceive it? And then, what is your reaction to it? Throughout the Gospels, we have accounts of people having various reactions to the presence of Jesus Christ. As Luke records one account, Jesus had cast out a demon that was mute and he caused the one that he resided in to be mute himself. And as he cast out the demon, the mute man spoke and the people marveled. seemingly one reaction from all the people who were watching. They marveled that this one who was mute, who was indwelt by a demon now, was no longer indwelt by the demon, and he spoke. But then came the different reactions. After the people marveled, then some of them said, he casts out demons by Beelzebul, meaning that Jesus was aligned with Satan. Others asked for a sign, different responses, different reactions to the very presence of Jesus Christ, from seeing him and from seeing his works. In that passage we heard of a supernatural removal of a demon which brought about mutinous of this man and saw him returned to his normal state. We saw the people marveled, and then we saw the differences. Not all reacted in the same way. Significantly, in that particular passage, Luke does not record that there are those who leapt for joy at the presence of Jesus. Why not? Why were these different reactions to the presence of Jesus? Well, this passage that we have before us this morning might help explain that or answer that question. Here, as we come to this passage, we see that Gabriel has visited Mary. Gabriel has told Mary much about what is going to happen to her and who this child will be that will be conceived in her womb by the Holy Spirit. The question remains is how would Mary receive Jesus? And how would others receive Jesus? That brings us to our particular passage today as Mary engages with Elizabeth. I want us to see that the Holy Spirit is the presence of Christ, which leads the children of God to humility and joy. The Holy Spirit is the presence of Christ, which leads the children of God to humility and joy. I'm not saying that the Holy Spirit is Christ, but I'm saying that His presence brings Jesus to us and leads us. to humility and joy. We'll see that in three points this morning. The presence of Jesus leads to urgency. Secondly, the presence of Jesus leads to humility. And finally, the presence of Jesus leads to joy. Keep that question in the back of your mind as we go through this passage. What is my reaction to Jesus Christ, to the presence of Jesus Christ? Christ. First, the presence of Jesus leads to urgency. I want us to see just overall a common thread throughout this passage, Luke 1 beginning at verse 39. There is a common thread. Consider the movement in this passage. Consider the urgency in this passage, the exclamations in this passage, the joy, the rejoice, and even the leaping in this passage. What is it that connects them together? What was going on? How are they connected, if they are connected? It seems to be that they're all connected. Every element of this passage, verses 39 through 45, are connected by the presence of Jesus. It seems that the leaping, the exclamations from Elizabeth's voice, the blessing that's recognized as having fallen upon Mary all stem from or flow out of the presence of Jesus. And you would say, well, he wasn't even born yet. Yes, that's the case. He wasn't even seen yet, at least by human eyes. The baby Jesus had not been seen by Mary, nor by John the Baptist, nor by Elizabeth. Obviously he was still in the womb of Mary. No human being could look upon him. Not yet. God was still knitting him together in the womb of his mother so that no human was able to look upon Jesus Christ. And yet he was near. He was in the room with Mary and Elizabeth. It seems to be what we have today. None of us can see Jesus. Now, you're right, He's not in someone's womb waiting to be born. That's already happened. But yet, like Mary and John the Baptist and Elizabeth, we cannot see the physical man, the God-man, Jesus. We can't see Him. He has ascended. He sits at the Father's right hand this very moment, and yet He's near. You might say, well, what do you mean? Scripture tells us that the Lord is near the brokenhearted. Psalm 34. Scripture tells us that the Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. Psalm 145. Jesus is near. Yes, He's in glory. Yes, He's in heaven. Yes, He sits at the Father's right hand. But through the work of the Holy Spirit, he's near the brokenhearted. He's near all who call upon him in truth. So scripture tells us he's near. The Holy Spirit convicts us that through the Holy Spirit he is near. And so there's a sense in which we are just like Mary and just like Elizabeth. And just like John the Baptist, Jesus is near. His presence is near us, and yet he can't be seen. And so this narrative is significant. As Luke continues with this narrative, he records that which reveals the significance of the nearness or the presence of Jesus. Remember that Mary has been visited by Gabriel. She's been told that this one who will be conceived in her womb will be great. He'll be called the Son of the Most High. He'll take the throne of his father David. He'll reign over the house of Jacob forever. There won't be any end to his reign. He will be called holy because the Holy Spirit will conceive him. He'll be called the Son of God. All of this has been given to Mary. She knows this. And as she ends this conversation with Gabriel, if we can call it that, she says, I'm the servant of the Lord. Let it be done to me, or let it be to me according to your word. And the angel departs from her. And the very next sentence from Luke, as he records this account, is, in those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country. It seems that the angel departs after she makes this statement, after she hears all this good news about this one who will be in her womb for nine months, and then she just departs. She leaves, according to the text. Not Mary went to speak with Joseph. Not Mary explained this situation to her parents, events that we might expect to have occurred. And maybe they did, but Luke doesn't record them. What he does record is this. In those days, Mary arose and went with haste. She had to go. Why? Why did Mary need to go visit Elizabeth? What was the immediacy about Mary's visit? We see it. We have that adverbial phrase. She arose and went with haste. Why? What was the need? Something happened to Mary and she needed to share it. She needed to tell it. She needed to share with another who had been similarly changed, similarly filled. This presence, Jesus' presence, needed to be experienced by others. His message, all that Mary had been given, his message needed to be told now. It was urgent. Let's consider all that Gabriel told Mary. And Jesus was holy. He was the Son of God. He was the forever king to sit on David's throne, the promised one. And then consider Mary's song, which follows after our text. We sang Mary's song. But it's all about her savior. Her message, the presence of Jesus, needed to be told. It needed to be experienced. by others. Just think of this for a moment. Elizabeth was pregnant. We know that. You might be saying, yes, that's obvious. We read of the baby leaping in her womb. So what? There doesn't seem to be any focus or discussion upon Elizabeth's pregnancy. Remember, she was barren. She was beyond the years of bearing children. And so what was going on in her womb was a supernatural event in and of itself. But there's no discussion. There's no rejoicing in Elizabeth's pregnancy. Where was that? It's completely overshadowed by the child, by the baby within Mary's womb. and for the haste. It seems to call us to consider why Jesus was sent. It seems to call us to think about the reason for God himself condescending, the second person of the Trinity, to take on a human nature and to go, to leave his eternal home in glory. Why was Jesus sent? The Son of God. certainly was not sent for his own benefit, certainly was not sent for his own comfort or pleasure, he was not sent to enjoy the things of this life, of this world, he was not sent to sit at home. No, he was sent like an Old Testament prophet of God, to go to the people of God, indeed to the world, to suffer. to glorify his father, he was sent to proclaim the truth about the father, to reveal the way of salvation and to accomplish salvation. And he couldn't do that sitting at home. No, he had to be with the people. He had to go to the people. Jesus had to preach to the people. Jesus had to teach the people. Jesus had to suffer amongst the people. Jesus had to die at the hands of the people. And Jesus had to rise before the eyes of the people such that there would be testimony and witnesses of his resurrection. And so Mary took him out. How do you respond to the presence of Jesus? How do you react? Knowing that He came for you. If you're trusting in Jesus Christ, knowing that He came for you, how do you respond? There's a sense in which Mary drops everything. Now, we don't know all the circumstances, but we do know that Mary lived in Nazareth, We do know that she travels to someplace in Judea. She stays with Elizabeth for three months. It was so urgent, so important for her to go, that it seems as though she leaves everything, that she couldn't wait to get out and to tell Elizabeth, to share with Elizabeth the presence of Jesus, to tell Elizabeth what has happened, what was going on, and what was going to happen through this child in her womb. How about you? Do you respond to the presence of Jesus with urgency, with haste? Indeed, the presence of Jesus leads to urgency. The need for haste, for going in haste. Mary had to go and tell. Why? Why wait? Why are you waiting? Going and telling is being for Jesus. That's rejoicing in the presence of Jesus. How urgent is His message? Who will you tell? What will you drop so that you can go and tell others? Jesus said very clearly, whoever is not with me is against me. Whoever does not gather with me scatters. Are you responding like Mary? That brings us to our second point. The presence of Jesus leads to humility. Consider Elizabeth now. We've been thinking about Mary's response. What about Elizabeth? Notice the initial interactions between these two women, verse 41. When Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Who does Luke focus his attention on? He notes the greeting of Mary, but the actual greeting is absent. The words between the two are not recorded, the first words. No, it's Elizabeth's observation that the baby in her womb leapt. That seems to be the first interaction. Elizabeth hears the greeting of Mary. Next, the baby leapt in her womb. It's Elizabeth's observation of what was going on within her as a result of this coming of Mary with Jesus. The baby leaps. Lucas focuses our attention on the leaping, on the jumping for joy upon the baby, John the Baptist. At the greeting of Mary, at the entrance of Mary into the home, upon Mary's initial words, the unborn baby in Elizabeth's womb leaps. How does Dr. Luke know that? Well, there could be several explanations, one of which would be that Elizabeth reveals this to Luke, that she tells him this is what happened. Upon the entrance of Mary with Jesus, John the Baptist in my womb leaps. But I want us to see that this is the first recorded reaction to the presence of Jesus. Other than Mary's going in haste, this is the first recorded reaction to the presence of Jesus. John the Baptist in the womb of Elizabeth leaps. He responds to the presence of his Savior. The unborn child reacts. The spirit was already at work and John, even as an unborn child in the womb, this little person, this unborn John the Baptist was already indwelt by the spirit and rejoices at the nearness of Jesus Christ. Don't miss that. The presence of Jesus brings this about. And then we read the very next statement is that Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Do you see the focus of Luke? In a sense, it's really not upon these women at all. His concern is to show that the work of the Holy Spirit is ongoing. The baby leaps, unborn. reacting to the presence of Jesus. The Holy Spirit was working in John the Baptist. The Holy Spirit's working in Elizabeth as a result of the presence of Jesus Christ. Elizabeth makes that observation, but Luke translates it for the church. The Holy Spirit was abiding and working. That's what he's saying. And then notice who speaks. Again, Luke only records one person speaking in this particular account until we get to Mary's song. He doesn't record Mary's initial words of greeting, but he does record Elizabeth's statements, her exclamations. She exclaimed with a loud cry, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why isn't Mary's initial greeting recorded? There must have been words between the two. At least we can speculate to that, I think reasonably. How does Elizabeth know what's happened? How does Elizabeth know of the pregnancy in Mary's womb? How does Elizabeth know of Mary's belief? Mary likely spoke to Elizabeth and shares this with her, but we don't know that because it's not recorded. But we already know how Mary responds to the presence of Jesus. What we don't know is how Elizabeth will respond. And so that's what Luke records. How would Elizabeth respond to the presence of Jesus? And now we know, she exclaims, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Elizabeth is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and now she exclaims, you're blessed, and so is the fruit of your womb. She first exclaims this blessing about Mary. What is the blessing? How has Mary been blessed? Notice Elizabeth does not say that Mary was a blessing to her. She alludes to this, but that's not her statement right here. Elizabeth's exclamation is that Mary's been blessed. Blessed among women. And then she states the blessing about the fruit of her womb. We'll get to these in the next head, but see here, these exclamations were not focused on Elizabeth. They were on others. Elizabeth was not focused on Elizabeth. She was not the center of herself. Remember her pregnancy. It was supernatural. But she doesn't even mention it, other than the fact that John the Baptist leaps at the presence of Jesus. Her focus, her thoughts, her words are on others. Her words are about Mary, but ultimately about Jesus. The Spirit was working in her. She was speaking out of a heart which had been humbled. The presence of Jesus had brought about a contrite heart in Elizabeth as the Spirit was abiding. We see this most clearly in Elizabeth's question. We don't read explicitly of Mary being blessed by the presence of Mary and the unborn child, but implicitly we can't miss it. Listen to her question again that she asks in verse 43. Why? Why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? It seems to be a Hebrew dictum, or idiom, excuse me. Basically, we could translate this as, who am I that you, meaning Mary, and even more so Jesus, would come to visit me? Who am I? Elizabeth humbles herself before the mother of her Savior and before her Savior. The unborn Savior. Elizabeth displays what we would call a contrite heart. Or as Jesus would preach in the Sermon on the Mount, one who is poor in spirit or one who is meek. How did this happen? Remember, Elizabeth was one who was acted on by God Himself. Not that we all aren't. But she was carrying the one who would be would immediately go before Jesus Christ. She was carrying the one who would identify Jesus as the Lamb of God. She had been made pregnant supernaturally and specifically by God. And yet, she was humble. At the presence of Jesus Christ, she humbles herself. Don't miss this, that Jesus was present. Yes, he was in the womb, but he was physically present. Is there a significant difference between you this morning and Elizabeth this morning because Jesus was present in the womb? I'm gonna go out on a limb and say no. For our purposes this morning, There's no significant difference between you and Elizabeth. She was blessed and herself was rejoicing in the presence of her Savior by the work of the Spirit. Elizabeth was humbled. Her words demonstrated how she reacted to the presence of Christ. She was recognizing and confessing her standing as a sinner before a holy God, before her Savior. This was a humble question. Who am I? It was an expression of knowing the significance of the one who was in the womb of Mary. It was a response to being in the presence of Jesus Christ. Who am I that you would come to me? Do you ask that question? Who am I that you, Jesus, would come to me? Even now. Even this morning. Even here in worship. Does the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ lead you to humility? Are you recognizing that He is present? Are you recognizing that you're standing before Him this morning as a sinner, and yet He came for you to wash you clean, to make you part of His bride? to prepare you to be with Him forever. He came to you. Are you humbled by that? That leads us to our third point. The presence of Jesus leads to joy. Now we touched upon this already, but let's touch upon it one more time. John the Baptist leapt in the womb. Luke mentions this twice. He wants us to get it. He wants us to say, oh, I understand now. The unborn baby in Elizabeth's womb now leaps for joy, I'm adding those words, because of the presence of Jesus. Mary comes in, that's the scene. She enters Elizabeth's house. She greets, Elizabeth hears the voice of Mary, this greeting of Mary, and seemingly at the same time, the baby is leaping within Elizabeth's womb. And Luke wants to know it, because he records it twice. Once was not enough. It was as if Luke was saying, did you hear that? The baby leapt. John the Baptist knew who this was in the womb of Mary. Is that your reaction? Is that how you respond? Are you full of joy? That's the call this morning, I think. So filled with joy that you're leaping. Now, we don't do that here in our worship services. Not physically, but are you leaping in your heart? No one could see John the Baptist leaping. Elizabeth felt it. Jesus's presence calls us to rejoice so that others could actually experience it as well. Elizabeth did. She knew of John's reaction to the presence of Christ. Do others know of your reaction to the presence of Jesus? Well, Elizabeth's final words, I'm not sure we have any other words of Elizabeth recorded for us in scripture, but these are her final words in verse 45. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord. And so what is this blessing that has fallen upon Mary? Some would misunderstand this particular passage. but I don't want us to. I want us to understand it rightly. Elizabeth specifically states, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. So among women is clearly a reference to her pregnancy, and we might consider, was Mary blessed to be carrying in her womb the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ? And we have to say, yes, yes, yes. Was this pregnancy to be any different than any other pregnancy of any other woman of that day and time? We probably have to say no to that. At least we don't know of any difference that Mary experienced. Nothing physical. Nothing in Scripture would tell us that this pregnancy was going to be easier. Nothing in Scripture would tell us that this pregnancy was going to be physically different than any other pregnancy. So it must have been a spiritual blessing that Mary was receiving and that Elizabeth was recognizing. So what was it? Well, first, Mary believed. We see that in the text. Isn't that what Elizabeth recognizes as well? We see it in two passages. Mary, behold, she says, I'm the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. That's what she says to the angel. So we know she believes. And now she most likely communicates this to Elizabeth. And Elizabeth now recognizes that you've been blessed because you believe that there's going to be a fulfillment of what was spoken to you by the Lord. You believe the word of the Lord. As the angel came to you and gave you the very word of God, you believed that it would come to pass. Now, we didn't read it, but this is said in great contrast to Zechariah, Elizabeth's husband, who had the same angel come to him and proclaim to him what was going to happen, and he didn't believe. Mary is blessed because she believes immediately. She didn't need to see the actual baby being born as Zechariah did. No, no, she believes. This was a gift of faith. She submitted herself to the will of God and believed that He would do all that He had said through His messenger, Gabriel, and she was blessed with this gift, a belief, a spiritual blessing. Secondly, Mary was blessed of all women as the Holy Spirit came upon her and conceived this baby in her womb who we know as Jesus. That truth is just beyond our capacity to understand and grasp. It's a great mystery and yet it's part of the blessing that Mary received exclusively. Exclusively. No other woman had or will have that same experience. None. She's blessed for the fruit of her womb. Holy Spirit working in a unique way, an exclusive way in Mary. And then finally, she's blessed by carrying Jesus, wasn't she? Again, a unique and exclusive privilege of carrying this one, this Jesus, the Son of God, in her womb for nine months, being knit together by His Father. Mary was blessed, spiritually blessed, by having this one develop and reside and live in her womb. Consider for a moment the closeness of a mother with a child, especially within the womb. There's nothing else like that in our world. The intimacy between a mother and a child during pregnancy is unmatched. It's unequaled in any other relationship that we experience. I don't say that from personal knowledge, but I think I understand that to be the case. And Mary, by the gift of God, by the blessing of the Father, was given this intimacy, this closeness, for nine months. Savior of the world. in her womb. How do you perceive the presence of Jesus? That's a valid question. We've seen differences. We see during Jesus' day there are those who perceived it with doubt. There were those who perceived it with hatred. There were those who perceived it as needing more proof. But we see all three in this passage, Mary and Elizabeth and John, perceiving it through the eyes of the Holy Spirit. It was the Spirit who had convicted each of them. This one that they could not see. this one who is promised by God in His covenant, who would bring about their reunion, their reconciliation, their fellowship, their communion with the living God. And they, each one of them, were able to rejoice in the unseen presence of Jesus because the Spirit had worked on each of their hearts. You see, it's the Spirit who must work. and bring the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ to you as a reality. And through it to bring you joy instead of rebellion. Leaping instead of running away. Worship. Worship instead of hatred. Yes, the Holy Spirit is the presence of Jesus Christ, which leads the children of God to humility and joy. Brothers and sisters, Christ is present by and through His Spirit this morning, and it calls for a response from each of us. Will we receive His presence with joy and rejoicing? Will we receive His presence with humility, with a contrite heart? Will we receive His presence with an urgency to tell others about what's happened to us? Let's pray that the Spirit would lead us in all of those things. as we know that Jesus Christ is indeed present. Amen. Father, our God, oh, what a blessing to know of Christ's presence. Oh, Holy Spirit, we ask even now, help us. We're weak, we're frail. Sometimes we have doubts about Christ's presence. Father, convict us. While He reigns, while He is ascended, while He sits at your very right hand, but through the Spirit, through the Spirit, He is present with us. And so help us, Father. especially at this time, but throughout our lives as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, help us. Help us to be urgent. Help us to live with haste with regard to the name of Jesus. Help us to be humble. Father, at times we are so prideful. Help us to humble ourselves in the presence of Christ. And then, Father, even more so, Holy Spirit lead us in joy and rejoicing at the presence of Jesus.