Well, thank you, choir, and good evening to all of you as we've gathered together again to worship the Lord tonight. I invite you to open your Bible to Luke chapter one. Luke chapter one is we continue studying this story of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. This morning, we saw the birth of Jesus foretold, and tonight we're gonna pick it up in verse 39, and we'll read through chapter, excuse me, verse 56, As we see Mary now responding to the angel's announcement of what is going to take place and running to her relative Elizabeth and bursting into song. Let's give our attention to God's word. Luke chapter one, beginning reading at verse 39. 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 leaped 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 leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord. 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. And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home. Let's ask the Lord to bless his word. Well, God in heaven, we thank you that Luke has recorded for us these wonderful events as Mary and Elizabeth together rejoice in what you've announced and what you have accomplished and promised in Jesus. And Lord, I pray that you would give us, Lord, the ears to hear your word, and we would receive it as the glorious news that it is tonight. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, one of the things I love about Luke's account, particularly of the gospel story, is how it thoroughly upends our sentimentalized versions of the Christmas narrative. Our hallmark version, well, it's this sweet nativity scene with this lovely young couple in a cozy little shed, nice little fire, which I never quite understood as a child because we were told not to light fires in the barn. You have happily observant animals gathered around and it's a very bucolic peaceful scene There's innocent young shepherd boys and a choir of beautiful angels and to top it all off. There's a nice glittery star extending beams of light Illuminating the peaceful scene the whole thing is just adorable Well, the real thing was a whole lot messier and profoundly more difficult and vastly more disruptive than we might imagine. We talked about that a bit this morning, how this would have been really a traumatic for Mary and traumatic for her family. Mary, of course, was like any other young girl in the time. Her life was really set before her. She knew that she would, at a certain age, be betrothed to a man, and her parents would be involved in that decision, and then they would be wed, and she would go to his home and live with him and his family and have children, Lord willing, and that was gonna be her life, probably right there in Nazareth. That would be the extent of of her life and she would eagerly be expecting this. And now she's been betrothed to Joseph and she's looking forward to the great anticipation to the wedding day. And as our text opens up tonight, we find Mary both incredibly blessed and with her carefully planned life in shambles. She needs to talk to somebody Because of this incredible news that she has received and so we read in 39 40 in those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country to a town of Judah and This would have been no small journey. Scholars aren't sure which town, but we know that it's in the hill country of Judea, most likely the town of Hebron, which is about 20 miles south of Jerusalem. And so this would have been about 100 miles from Nazareth. And of course, she would have walked. There's no Uber. You can't jump in the car. This would have been a journey that you would take on foot. And that's a long way to go. And yet Mary, we're told, takes that journey as this young girl and with haste. Why did she go with haste? Well, most likely because she's driven by both overwhelming joy at how glorious and good God has been to her, and with some fear and trepidation. She's received the most stupendous blessing imaginable. She's going to be the mother of the Messiah, and her life at the same time has been upended. And who can she share it with? Who will understand this story? Well, Gabriel had mentioned someone, a relative of hers, Elizabeth. And think of the blessing that this would have been for Mary to go and visit her godly older relative. Elizabeth, you see, was maybe the one person in the world who would really get The story who would maybe have the ability to grasp the magnitude of it and to believe it I mean who would believe that a virgin could conceive who would possibly understand that well Maybe an old woman who had been barren all of her life Never expected children and yet in her old age in barren state by the power of god has received the impossible a pregnancy Elizabeth you see has the ability the capacity to understand and can you imagine the joy that it would have been for mary then to go to someone who gets it and someone who can celebrate and rejoice with her. And so Mary goes to the home of Zachariah and Elizabeth. Now Mary, of course, doesn't, there's no telephone. There's not, you don't text. Elizabeth, as far as Mary knows, knows nothing. And so there would have been some trepidation, maybe some nervousness as she goes into the home. How will Elizabeth respond? Because of course the expected response would be for a godly older woman, hearing the news of an unwed pregnancy, the expected response would have been a rebuke. And so Mary enters the door. And Elizabeth, Elizabeth? And what a wonderful thing, then, the way Elizabeth responds. Elizabeth, hearing the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. What a blessed message to Mary's ears. What a wonderful affirmation that God has preceded her. She doesn't need to even tell the story. Elizabeth already knows the story. If you were 13 years old and pregnant by the Holy Spirit, wouldn't this be a tender blessing to you that you have been received in such a wonderful way as Elizabeth rejoices in what God is doing. Elizabeth absolutely understands and she's ecstatic and honors this 13 or 14 year old girl. Blessed are you among women. Blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? Elizabeth really understands what's happening. She completely understands what's what's taking place that the messiah has uh is is being Woven together as bodies being woven together in mother's womb the Lord her Lord is in Mary's womb That's it. That's just an astonishing Proclamation of faith worked in Elizabeth by the Holy Spirit. She has not come to this herself. She's filled with the Spirit and she Understands and perceives and rejoices in what's happening. We're expected here to see just ecstasy exhilaration rapturous joy And it's not just between these two women, John the Baptist in his infancy in Elizabeth's womb also gets it. Elizabeth says, we behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Gabriel had told Zachariah, if you remember, that the baby that was gonna be born, the baby that was gonna be in Elizabeth's womb would be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. The evidence of course is that John in his fetal state is full of the spirit is that John in his Infancy in the womb as he's being knit together in six months along John rejoices John leaps upon Mary's arrival The Holy Spirit is wonderfully at work. I And Elizabeth celebrates not just the fact of what God is doing, but she celebrates Mary's faith. Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord. And you can almost hear her say, unlike, you know, who? Zachariah, who did not believe. And here's this little, this young girl, this young woman. who, when she heard this astonishing message, was able, by the power of God, to believe it, to receive it with faith and submit to it in obedience, even in the face of difficult circumstances. Well, Elizabeth's joy and faith would undoubtedly be a great encouragement, great blessing to Mary. She's not alone. God has given her a companion in faith and what might seem scandalous to other eyes, what might seem scandalous to her friends, to her family, what would seem scandalous to them was seen as glorious and good by Elizabeth as Elizabeth gets it and she understands by faith what God is doing. I just have a sense as you see this scene, And you sense the joy that Mary and Elizabeth have together as they celebrate what God is doing. Even though it's foolishness to the world, it just seems to be a picture of what the church should look like and feel like. This is what the fellowship of the saints should be like, right? As we walk this pilgrim road together, and as we experience difficult things, as we see by the Holy Spirit truths that the world doesn't understand, It doesn't make sense to them. The fellowship of the saints ought to be a place where we rejoice with people who get it, people who understand. In the whole spectrum, people who understand the sorrows of loved ones, maybe who aren't walking with the Lord, people who understand the hardship of just day in, day out pilgrimage, and the losses, and the heartaches, and also the hopes, the expectations, the joys of the faith. It's a wonderful thing to have brothers and sisters in the faith who get it and who get us. I'm sure you've experienced this when you meet a new brother or sister, maybe in another country, and you can just experience, you feel the fellowship of the faith just by looking in their eyes and talking about the Lord. Well, that's what Mary and Elizabeth have together. And Mary burst into song. There's an interesting thing that God does. I think this event, Mary's song, is supposed to remind us, I'm almost sure it would remind the Israelites, of another song sung by another woman at another great event of redemption. And that would be the song of Miriam. In Exodus chapter 15, when God has brought Israel through the Red Sea and has destroyed Pharaoh and his mighty army, Miriam breaks into song. God has triumphed gloriously, the horse and the rider, he's thrown into the sea. And God now here also, his servant, Mary, not Miriam, but Mary now, breaks into song and the themes are very similar. My soul magnifies the lord my spirit rejoices in god my savior for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant and Behold from now on all generations will call me blessed mary She can't help but sing as she senses and receives by faith the glory of what God is doing. And it's a song of delight in God. My soul magnifies the Lord. My spirit delights in God, in God my Savior. And she highlights the attributes of God, who He is, what He's like. Verse 49, He who is mighty has done great things for me. And holy is His name and His mercy. is for those who fear him. This is what God is like. He is mighty, and he's holy, and he's merciful. This is the beauty of God to those who know him and believe in him. He is able to do the impossible. He's able to save us to the uttermost. He is mighty in his salvation. He's holy in his righteousness, and he's merciful to sinners. She magnifies the glory of God as he reveals himself in his salvation, his saving acts. And in verses 51 through 52. She rejoices prophetically in what God is doing. He's not just doing something for Mary, but this is God at work, God in action. Notice the verbs here. He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He's brought down the mighty from their thrones. He's exalted those of humble estate. He's filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. All God at work, God moving, God in action. And there's a theme here of a great reversal. Salvation is a work of God turning things upside down. God doing the unexpected. So the the proud are humbled and the poor are exalted. The hungry are filled while the rich are sent away with nothing. You see, God's salvation is is an act of Saving might on the one hand and judgment and demolition and destruction on the other hand. That's how it always is You saw that with with with Pharaoh and Moses coming out of Egypt. Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones Says this it is significant that it's significant that God's action for the salvation of man condemns and indeed demolishes all in which men and women trust or have ever trusted and What does God destroy? Well, he destroys men's wisdom. Who does he scatter? He scatters those who are proud in the imaginations of their heart. And Lloyd-Jones talks about this as God bringing down those who are haughty in their own understanding. So if you think about the people in the world today, they got it all figured out. They trust in their own understanding. They lean on their own understanding. They're proud of their learning and their knowledge they're they're they're bright people and they're rational people and They they will never find God Until they humble themselves to believe what is the foolishness of God and accept by divine revelation? What they would never come to by themselves God brings down the mighty from their thrones. Ever since the fall of man into sin, men have been ascending their little thrones, right? They've gathered themselves together, Psalm 2, and said, let's tear the king down from his throne. Let us burst our bounds apart. Man has been rebelling against God's rule from the beginning of time, ever since the fall. And yet God, well, God will not be dethroned. God triumphs and he does so, so often through instruments of weakness. And so Pharaoh with his vast resources and mighty army is brought down by a prophet, a meek prophet, Moses, who speaks the word of the Lord with a staff in his hand. and the kingdom of Egypt is brought to its knees. You see a similar story with God triumphing over mighty Goliath, the unstoppable behemoth of a man, this great warrior of the Philistines, and a young boy comes out with some stones. And in the name of the Lord, Goliath is conquered, destroyed, and brought down. Well, Mary is marveling at just that way of God. The way God triumphs over the kingdoms of this earth and the powers of this evil age through her and this little baby growing in her womb, Mary sees by faith that God, through this little child, is going to establish his throne and tear down the rebellious thrones of men. And she rejoices that the rich are sent away and the humble are filled. By the rich, he doesn't mean material wealth, but those who think they're spiritually rich. Those who, those who are very self-righteous, very confident that they are good enough. They trust their morality. They trust their religion. They trust their intentions. That they believe that if there's a God, if there's a judgment day, that it's nothing that they should need to be concerned about because they're good people. They're really good people. Not perfect, but plenty good enough. Well, those are the rich people who are going to be sent away empty-handed. They might be very, very religious rich people, like the Pharisees, who are absolutely positive that their righteousness is sufficient, and yet, of course, They're sent away because there's only one righteousness that's sufficient. That's the righteousness that is perfect, the righteousness that is imputed to those who believe, those who humbly say, Lord, I got nothing. I'm bankrupt. I got nothing to offer. There's no reason for you to show mercy and grace to me. If you were to deal with me simply in justice, my destiny would inevitably and necessarily be everlasting hell. That is what the Christian professes. And yet, God in mercy delights to pour out the riches of his grace on those who confess their sin, those who acknowledge their bankruptcy, those who trust completely and only in his grace. The incarnation, you see, friends, is God invading this world and beginning this great work of reversal. God beginning now in truth and in full to make all things new. When writer says it this way, the arrival of Jesus 2000 years ago ensures that God has begun the process of reversing the curse of sin and recreating all things. All of Jesus ministry, the words he spoke, the miracles he performed showed that there was a new order in town. God's order. When Jesus healed the diseased and raised the dead and forgave the desperate, he did so to show that with the arrival of God in the flesh came the restoration of the way God intended things to be. God was reversing the curse of death and disease and discomfort. The incarnation of Christ began the great reversal. And that work, of course, continued as Jesus Christ was born and Jesus Christ lived an obedient life and Jesus Christ went and died an atoning death and was raised in victory from the grave and ascended in glory to the right hand of God. And that work of reversal is continuing today as Jesus Christ is gathering his elect children from all the corners of the world. And the powers of hell cannot stand against the work of Jesus Christ or stand against his church. The Bible ends with a promise from Jesus that this great work of reversal is continuing and will come to completion in Revelation chapter 21 verse 5, John writes, he who is seated on the throne, our Lord Jesus himself said, behold, I am making all things new. And that's what we celebrate at Christmas. We don't just celebrate the birth, we celebrate all that it portends, all that it means, that Jesus Christ is making everything new. And we believe it as we stand in the midst of a world where so much is broken, where we are surrounded by what is old, what is passing away. We see all the ways that we have failed in the way that this world has failed to honor the Lord. We see the powers of hell at work. We see the principalities of darkness and death and the devil. We see all these things. And we could be tempted at times to lose our hope, lose our confidence, lose our joy. Friends, Christmas time is a time just to remember that no matter what it seems like, no matter how the mighty seem to boast, no matter how the devil might seem to roar, Jesus Christ reigns. Jesus Christ lives. Jesus Christ is making all things new. And Jesus Christ is coming again. And by faith, we have been caught up in that great story and that great reality. May he come again soon. Amen. Father in heaven, I thank you for what you have accomplished in Jesus Christ, our Savior. Oh, Father, where would we be without Jesus? We would be utterly and eternally lost, and justly so. Father, I thank you so much that you so love this world that you gave your only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his son into this world to condemn the world, but that through him the world might believe and be saved. And Jesus, we thank you that you have shown such mercy to us. Who are we? That we should have been included in the elect. We should have been brought into the family of God. That we should have been on your mind as you died on that cross. That we should be the focus of your sovereign power as you are leading us through this life and building us up in the faith and preparing us for our eternal home. Who are we that we should be the children of God, the citizens of the kingdom of heaven, that we should be the bride of the victorious Lord Jesus Christ. and yet that is what we are. And Father, I pray that as we celebrate your birth and your victory, your ascension, your power, your coming again this Christmas, Lord God, that these things would fill us with ecstasy, with hope, with joy, with peace, that we are more than conquerors through him who has loved us, for he has loved us to the uttermost. And Father, I pray if we have never come to know this Jesus, that this would be the time where your Holy Spirit wakens faith in our life, in our heart, and that we might acknowledge our bankruptcy, our need, and come to Jesus, maybe for the first time in a personal way, to confess him as Lord and Savior, to receive by faith, through grace, his great salvation. Oh, Father, do your work in the hearts of everyone that's gathered here this evening, and all for the glory of Jesus, we pray it, amen. Let's respond by singing number 217, all.