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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.
Blessed Is She Who Believed
The Holy Spirit is the presence of Christ who leads the children of God to humility and joy.
| Sermon ID | 122624181247804 |
| Duration | 42:14 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | Luke 1:39-45 |
| Language | English |
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