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Turn with me to Luke chapter
1. During our time in Luke's gospel,
he has introduced us to two women, Elizabeth and Mary. Two women
who are really very different when you compare them to one
another. Elizabeth is a woman advanced in years, a descendant
of Aaron, and she's married to a priest named Zacharias. And
Mary is a young woman, probably between 13 and 15 years old. She's a virgin who's engaged
to Joseph, a descendant of David. The two women are carrying two
different children, John and Jesus. John, we're told you'll
remember, will be great in the sight of the Lord there in verse
15, and that he will be prophet of the Most High. That comes
in verse 76. We are told of Jesus that He'll
be great in verse 32, and as we considered last week, it's
really an unqualified greatness. And He's called, verse 32, the
Son of the Most High. Two mothers and two sons intertwined
in one story of God's redeeming love and saving grace. And this morning, those two mothers
carrying their two sons come together here in Luke chapter
1 verse 39. If you'd read with me. Now at
this time, Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country
to a city of Judah and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted
Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting,
the baby leapt in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the
Holy Spirit. And she cried out with a loud
voice and said, "'Blessed are you among women, and blessed
is the fruit of your womb. And how has it happened to me
that the mother of my Lord would come to me? For behold, when
the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leapt in my
womb for joy, and blessed is she who believed that there would
be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord."
Those verses, 39 through 45, are describing the moment when
Mary came to Elizabeth to confirm the sign that the angel had given
there in verse 36, and they describe for us Elizabeth's Holy Spirit-inspired
blessing. And both what we see Mary doing
and both what we see coming here from Elizabeth show us what's
commendable about Mary, and both relate to Mary's son. As we get
started, there's something I want to consider from this text that
I think I'll be able to show you in a moment how it's related.
I know there's a large Roman Catholic church presence in our
area, and I know that that is a group that venerates Mary,
and I know some of you were saved out of that background, and I
know that many of you continue to share the gospel with those
who are Roman Catholics in our community, and I thought it might
be helpful to briefly look at some of their beliefs about Mary
here. And we have different people
that visit our church from time to time, and if you're coming
from a Roman Catholic background, I hope this will be helpful as
you look at this and you've heard different views and perspectives
and doctrines about Mary. And I just want you to know that
there are people in our church who have been exactly where you're
at. And if you want to talk to somebody in our church about
that background that you come from, that tradition that you've
been in, if you want to talk to them, if you'd find me afterwards,
I know there are those in our church who would love to talk
to you. These are beliefs that I want to highlight here that
are held by the church, Roman Catholic Church, about Mary,
and they're derived from tradition and popes and councils and really
faulty translations, as we'll see in a moment, and various
interpretations. And there's two reasons I want
to consider them this morning. The first is this, they would
attach some of those doctrines of Mary, their Mariology, to
the verses that we looked at last week and the verses that
I just read to you a moment ago. And the second reason I want
to share that with you is because what Mary, or what Elizabeth
says this morning, is corrective to all of those things. What
she tells us is what's truly excellent about Mary. What are
some of those errors that are taught about Mary that the Roman
Catholic Church believes? Well, number one, that she is
a conduit of grace. That she is a conduit of grace,
that she is the, quote, mediatrix of all graces, as several popes
have called her. That the graces that come to
us through Jesus Christ are said to come through Mary in a particular
way, in a secondary way. Where do they get that? Well,
look there in verse 28, what we looked at last week with Gabriel
calling her by that name, favored one, and we considered the translation
of that verb that's written down there is to be one who is to
be shown favor. In verse 30 saying, you have
found favor with God. Here's where translations get
that wrong. The Latin Vulgate translates
verse 28, and you can look this up, is the angel saying to her,
hail, full of grace. Instead of favored one, she is
filled with grace. She is a storehouse of grace.
And then Roman Catholic doctrine leads to Roman Catholic practice
where you have things such as the Rosary and Pope Leo XIII
in 1894 wrote this, the recourse we have to Mary in prayer follows
upon the office she continuously fills by the side of the throne
of God as mediatrix of divine grace. Being by worthiness and
by merit most acceptable to Him and therefore surpassing in power
all the angels and saints in heaven, talking about Mary. Now
this merciful office of hers, he says, perhaps appears in no
other form of prayer so manifestly as it does in the rosary, for
in the rosary all the parts that Mary took as our co-redemptress
come to us. that they would see her as a
dispenser of grace, as one who sort of opens the floodgates
of grace to send grace to you that comes from Christ. The point
is, for the Roman Catholic, is that you ought to pray to Mary,
who being full of grace herself, has access to these stockpiles
and storehouses of grace, and she can open the door so that
grace might come to you and meet your great need that you have
for grace. And you might think, well, that's
1894 when Pope Leo XIII wrote that. Roman Catholic doctrine
from long ago shows up again and again. Just this year, earlier,
January 2024, Pope Francis said this, Mary knows our needs. She intercedes to make grace
overflow in our lives and to guide them to authentic fulfillment.
He said, all of us have shortcomings, our time of loneliness, our inner
emptiness that cries out to be filled. And then he asked, who
can fill our emptiness? if not Mary, the mother of fullness. Let us entrust this coming year,
he said, to the mother of God. Let us consecrate our lives to
her. With tender love, she will open our eyes to their fullness,
for she will lead us to Jesus." Brent, the first thing that needs
to be said here is that there is a joyful truth that you find
in Scripture, that you don't need Mary to get to Jesus. You
don't need Mary to get to God. If that's what you've been taught
your whole life, Would you go home and would you consider reading
Hebrews chapter 7 through Hebrews chapter 10? But it also has to
be noted that that teaching is the very opposite of what you
find in Luke chapter one. The angel wasn't sent to Mary
because she was full of grace. The angel is sent to Mary because
God is gracious. And he chose Mary by no merit
of her own to demonstrate his grace, his favor upon her. Mary is a beneficiary of grace.
She's not the mediatrix of grace. Now closely related to that is
the second Roman Catholic doctrine that I want you to consider this
morning is that Mary was without sin. Mary was without sin. The Roman Catholic catechism,
you can look this up, says Mary was, quote, free of every personal
sin her whole life long. She didn't really need a Savior.
She was sinless. Pope Pius IX in his encyclical
from December 1854 wrote this, the most blessed Virgin Mary
was from the first moment of her conception by a singular
grace and privilege of Almighty God and by virtue of the merits
of Christ, savior of the human race, preserved immune from all
stain of original sin. He goes on to say, Mary remained
free of every personal sin her whole life long. That's quoted
again in the Roman Catholic catechism. And this is completely contrary
to what we found last week in the text in Luke 1 and what's
before us this week. The Roman Catholic doctrine of
Mary is clear. She's conceived without a sin
nature. She's born without original sin. She's preserved free from
sin, enabling her then to be the most worthiest person on
the planet in all time that could bear the child that she's carrying
in Luke 1, the Savior Jesus. But would you remember that when
the angel calls her favored one, what's her response? She's perplexed. She's sort of going, me? Why would you be calling me favored
one? The response that you see here from Luke is he's documented
all that. It's not like she's standing there going, well, it's
about time. You finally found me and it's time for me to fulfill
my mission. Mary can't figure out why God would show her grace.
There's nothing extraordinary about Mary who herself, in verse
47 that we'll look at in the weeks to come, has reason to
rejoice in God my Savior. Mary needs a Savior like all
men need Savior. A third doctrine of Mary derived
from this section is that, number three, Mary remained a perpetual
virgin. Mary remained a perpetual virgin.
They get that from verse 27 and from verse 34, and from that
the error began to be taught and propagated that Mary was
not only a virgin when she conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit,
but that she remained a virgin her whole life through. The Second
Council of Constantinople in 553 sanctioned the title for
Mary, ever virgin, meaning that Mary gave birth to no other children,
and that she never had sexual relations with her husband Joseph,
so that she remained a perpetual virgin. Sadly, several church
fathers who'd been helpful in other areas held to this error. It's expressed in a three-part
confession of Mary, that Mary was virginitas, antepartum, impartum,
and postpartum, virgin before birth, in birth, and after birth.
But there's nothing in the text of Scripture that presents that
as true. In fact, it's quite the opposite
when you look at Mark 3.31 that reads, then His mother and His
brothers arrived. Who in the world is that? Or
1 Corinthians 9.5, Paul mentions the brothers of the Lord Jesus.
Or Galatians 1.19, Paul says James is the Lord's brother.
Uh-oh, you've got a problem, right? We're Roman Catholic. Doctrine interprets those as
being the children of another Mary, or maybe that, you know,
Joseph brought some children into the marriage whenever they
actually were married. But when you look at this, the
simplest, clearest reading of the text of Scripture tells us
after Jesus was born, Joseph and Mary had other children.
And guess what? That's perfectly fine that they
did. The Roman Catholic Church constructed that doctrine of
Mary to express that she's excellent. So excellent that you should
pray to her, venerate her, honor her, worship her, and even refer
to her by that idolatrous title, Queen of Heaven. When constructing
that doctrine of Mary compromises the gospel. puts another mediator
in the place of Jesus that you must go to first. Friend, what
this text of Scripture that I read to you a moment ago shows us
this morning is that you don't have to create a doctrine of
Mary, attributing divine qualities to her to show that there's something
excellent and commendable about Mary. You only need to see what
she's doing in verse 39 through 45, and you only need to listen
to the words that are coming from Elizabeth's mouth. So like
Luke has done in all these previous things that we looked at, the
first thing he gives us here is a bit of an introduction where
we see the faith of Mary displayed there in verse 39 and 40. The
faith of Mary displayed. Look at verse 39. Those words,
at this time Mary arose and went in a hurry. It would seem to express here that having just
been told about Elizabeth there in verse 36 that we looked at
last week, Mary's response is to do what? Quickly go and quickly
find Elizabeth. And that opens this scene. And
that opens this scene with Mary demonstrating faith in the Word
of God that the angel has just brought to her, that her relative
Elizabeth, who she knows as well past childbearing years, that
this Elizabeth has conceived a son in her old age. Mary believing
the angels' words from heaven here is the very reason that
she arises and she goes in a hurry to Elizabeth's house. That's
faith in action. That's her being all in in regards
to what God has said that has been brought to her. Faith is
going here in a hurry. And where is she going? To the
hill country, to a city of Judah. That would seem to be a reference
to a city in the districts around Jerusalem. There's evidence to
believe it may be south of Jerusalem. What does that mean? That means
that this young teenage girl, 13 to 15 years old, is embarking
on a journey here some 80 to 100 miles away from her home
to see her relative, Elizabeth. I'll ask you this, would you
go on an 80 to 100 mile journey on foot to see your relative
as a young teenage girl if you didn't believe what Gabriel had
just told you? And consider this wasn't by car,
this wasn't by bus, this wasn't by train. Mary didn't have a
cell phone handy to call if she needed help from someone along
the way. This would have been a few days
by foot, which when you think about it would have provided
her ample opportunity to think about all that the angel Gabriel
had just told her about the child that should be caring and the
reasons we considered last week that that child is most precious
from verse 26 through 38. And if she's walking 80 to 100
miles, that would have provided countless hours for a multitude
of questions to enter her mind. Most likely, she hasn't talked
to Joseph about this yet. How am I going to explain this
to Joseph? Well, my parents believe me when
I tell them what's just happened. I've lived in this small village
of maybe a hundred people my entire life. Everybody knows
me. They've seen me my entire life. What's going to be their
response when they find out I'm pregnant and then that I tell
them I'm still a virgin? She's going on this long journey. What happens if I get to Elizabeth's
house and she turns me away? And yet Mary is going in a hurry.
And the text says there, and she entered the house of Zacharias
and she greeted Elizabeth. Can you imagine then that greeting
after that long journey? When Mary sees her relative who
has advanced in years here, she's going to be, according to the
text, at least six months pregnant. She doesn't have to go in and
say, you know, I heard that you were pregnant. Is that true?
All she has to do is look at her. There she is, six months
pregnant. Without speaking a word, Mary
would have confirmation of what the angel said when she sees
Elizabeth. And think about Elizabeth's side.
She's concealed herself for five months, that's verse 24. And
here Mary shows up going, I've heard you've conceived a child.
Mary, how did you find that out?" So Mary's side, that's Elizabeth's
side, you have Zacharias over there and he's just going, right? He can't say anything because
that's sort of his punishment for not believing from verse
20. What a scene this is. Can you
imagine the joy? Can you imagine the joy that
Mary's faith had brought her from embarking on this journey
to see Elizabeth? The journey was long, but immediately
when she arrives, the Word of God is confirmed. Everything
was as the angel had said, which must have been awful reassuring
to a young girl. who surely pondered the words
of Gabriel in her whole situation as she walked step by step over
those 80 to 100 miles on the way to Elizabeth's house. Her conviction had to have surely
been strengthened that verse 37 was true. Verse 37, nothing
will be impossible with God. That's the introduction where
Mary's faith was displayed. Followed by number two, Elizabeth's
blessing, where Mary's faith is commended in verse 41 through
45. Elizabeth's blessing, Mary's
faith is commended. Luke doesn't tell you to what
extent Mary shared with Elizabeth her story of Gabriel's visit. And we know that, of course,
Elizabeth had a story of her own that she could have shared
here with Mary. It only says in verse 41, when Elizabeth heard
Mary's greeting, the baby leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was
filled with the Holy Spirit. Leapt is the word skirton. to leap, it even means to skip. It's used to describe the skipping
of sheep in a pasture. That's what is written here about
John's response. Now, if you remember back in
verse 15, you were told that John would be filled with the
Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb. When Mary arrives
here at Elizabeth's front door and speaks, this causes John
here, filled with the Holy Spirit, to delight and to express joy
even in utero. That the prophet John is doing,
when you think about it, the only possible thing he can do
to express joy and delight at this point in his life, to announce
the coming of Jesus into the world while he's still in his
mother's womb, this is it. And then not only was Elizabeth's
child filled with the Holy Spirit already and responding in this
way, but the text tells us she was filled with the Holy Spirit.
Elizabeth being filled with the Holy Spirit, that enables her
at this moment to discern the significance of her baby's movements
that she's going to tell us and she's going to describe that
there in verse 44. Elizabeth being filled with the Holy Spirit
helps her to understand all that's taking place with Mary and helps
her to believe this is true. What would otherwise seem to
be impossible is absolutely true, that a virgin is with child and
that this is not only This is no ordinary child, this is the
Son of the Most High, this is the Son of God. Elizabeth being
filled here with the Holy Spirit is what is going to give voice
to her child's recognition of Mary and her unborn baby, and
that voice will be one of faith and joy and blessing upon Mary,
and we get to hear that voice in verse 42. And she cried out with a loud
voice and said, "'Blessed are you among women, and blessed
is the fruit of your womb.'" Luke chooses those words intentionally,
and she cried out with a loud voice. They're used in other
places to describe when a prophet is speaking. when it's a divine
utterance coming from one's mouth. They're used to describe when
Elizabeth's son will one day speak, John 1.15. John testified
about Jesus and cried out saying, this was he of whom I said, he
who comes after me has a higher rank than I for he existed before
me. John cried out. John is the one who'll be crying
out in the wilderness, crying out here with a loud voice. Those
are words that often accompany inspired utterances, and they
do the very same thing here with what Elizabeth says. Utterances
that will one day come from Elizabeth's son, who's crying out in the
wilderness, first come from his mother when she's in the presence
of Mary and her child. And here's the heart of this
section there in what she says in verse 42 through 45. How does
Elizabeth view Mary? What's excellent about Mary?
If it's not those things that we talked about a moment ago,
what is it that's commendable about Mary? It comes here in
the Holy Spirit-inspired blessing of Elizabeth. She makes four
observations about Mary that show us what's commendable. Four
observations about Mary showing us what is commendable. Number
one, Mary is blessed. There in verse 42, and she cried
out with a loud voice and said, "'Blessed are you among women.'"
Blessed is the word eulogeo. It's to receive special favor
from God. It shows up in the Septuagint
in Genesis 1.22 where we read, God blessed the creatures of
the water and sky, that they would one day multiply and that
they would fill the earth. It shows up in Hebrews 11 verse
20 where Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau saying he wanted God's
favor to be shown upon them one day. It shows up in Hebrews 11.21
where Jacob blessed the sons of Joseph, that God would show
favor to them one day as he blessed them. Bless, then, is usually
used in the sense in which the blessing is given. Someone is
giving someone else a blessing, and then it's anticipated that
God would show you special favor, sort of like the Aaronic blessing
there in Numbers 6 24, the Lord bless you and keep you, that
He would show His favor upon you, shine His face upon you.
But would you note here, Elizabeth uses it in a different sense.
She recognizes that Mary has already been blessed. Mary has
already been shown special favor by God. She's not anticipating
that God is going to bless her, but she's saying, God has already
blessed you, Mary, but what's going on? And that favor is related
to one person, the child she's carrying. This isn't a blessing
then that's expressing Mary's superior to other women, that
her rank is higher than other women. It's a blessing that what
God has done in Mary is a great honor that Mary could never earn
or Mary could never merit. She's honored among women because
she is the woman among women who will carry the Messiah. Would you notice here that Elizabeth
gets it? Would you consider for a moment who is speaking that
inspired blessing? Elizabeth must have been a woman
who considered herself blessed because God had shown His favor
upon her, miraculously causing her to conceive a child in her
old age. She's already experienced a miracle
related to conception. And yet, she's saying here, what
God has done to Mary outshines what He's done in her. Mary,
blessed are you among women." That's coming from a woman who
knows God's favor. That's coming from Elizabeth.
God's favor upon her is this, Mary, you're a chosen instrument
by God by which the Son of the Most High will enter the world
to deliver His people from their sins. What an honor has been
shown to you, Mary, that has been shown to no one else. So
Elizabeth is saying, Mary, you're more blessed than me. The miracle
of a virgin with child is greater than the miracle of a woman advanced
in years being with a child. The favor I have been shown by
God, Mary, it's great, but the favor you've been shown by God
is infinitely greater." In this blessing, we see that this
favor that Mary has been shown by God is again directly related
to the miracle in the child himself, Jesus. So, number two, not only
is Mary blessed, but number two, Mary's child is blessed. And
you see that there in verse 42, and blessed is the fruit of your
womb. Elizabeth is keeping in all of
this Mary's motherhood in focus right here. Fruit of your womb,
that's a Hebrewism, a Jewish thought, coming from something
like Deuteronomy 7 or Deuteronomy 28, a fruitful womb was considered
a blessing of God and related to faithful obedience. But again,
when you look at this here, there's more to Elizabeth's blessing
than simply that Mary's womb is blessed because she's carrying
a child. Mary's womb is blessed because of the nature and the
work of this child. And again, we see that Elizabeth
gets it. Think of who's saying all this. Remember these words
of blessing are coming from a woman whose child has already been
described by an angel in verse 15 as, he will be great in the
sight of the Lord. Just think for a moment how mothers
and fathers compare children. That happens all the time. You
hear it. My child was reading at four years old. Well, that's
good for you. Mine was reading at three. My
child made the honor roll in third grade. My child made varsity
his freshman year. My child learned how to tie his
shoes his senior year. This is just all hypothetical. Parents are prone to hold their
children in higher regard when compared to other children. And
Elizabeth's child has already been proclaimed by an angel to
be great in the sight of the Lord. I bet that hasn't happened
with your kid. Don't throw anything, right?
I bet an angel didn't make that announcement about your child.
Oh, your child's going to be great in the sight of the Lord.
But it did. He did for Elizabeth's. And yet, with Elizabeth, there's
no reservation here. The child Mary is carrying, she
says, great, superior. He's of the highest order, even
in comparison to a child who's great in the sight of the Lord.
Why? because of who Mary's son is. This is the Messiah, John
4.25. This is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact
representation of His nature. He is Him who upholds all things
by the word of His power, Hebrews 1.3. He is the Creator of all
things, Colossians 115. He is the one who is before all
things, Colossians 117. He's the one who is holy, innocent,
undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens,
Hebrews 7.26. He's the Alpha and Omega, who
is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty of Revelation
1.8. He's the Lord of glory, 1 Corinthians 2.8, and Mary's
son. Oh, Elizabeth's son is going
to have this great role that Mary's son is coming, but it's
going to be Mary's son who's going to rescue His people from
the domain of darkness. Mary's son will redeem them.
He'll forgive them of their sins. He'll make them a people of His
kingdom, Colossians 1, 13 and 14. So the favor that Mary has
been shown by God is related once again to who? The child
she carries. He's the son of God, and He is
God's saving grace. The third blessing, Mary's relative
is blessed. Mary's relative is blessed. Elizabeth
speaks about herself now for a moment in verse 43. She says
this, "'And how has it happened to me that the mother of my Lord
would come to me? For behold, when the sound of
your greeting reached my ears, the baby leapt in my womb for
joy. How does Elizabeth view Mary showing up? It's this, the
mother of my Lord is coming to me. Again, all of this is in
relation to the child who Elizabeth refers to here as my Lord. That's the word, kurios. Sprinkled
all throughout Luke's gospel, Luke 3, 4, John will be preparing
the way for the Lord. Luke 11, 1, the disciples call
Jesus Lord when asking, Him to teach them how to pray in Luke
24, 34, it is the Lord Jesus who was risen. Luke himself,
as he's writing this account, just begins referring to Jesus
as Lord. Jesus affirms all this is right
in John 13, 13, you call me teacher and Lord and you are right for
so I am. It's appropriate. It's appropriate
that Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit in this moment, is
referring to Him as Lord. Why? Because Paul writes in 1
Corinthians 12, 3 that no one speaking by the Spirit of God
says Jesus is a curse, and no one can say Jesus is Lord except
by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit filled Elizabeth,
and Elizabeth is calling Him Lord in this moment. It means
master, it means one who has full and total control. And in
the Old Testament, at times it refers to the Messiah who is
God. Psalm 110 verse 1, the Lord says
to my Lord, set at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool
for your feet. The psalm is speaking about Mary's
child. Jesus is Lord, and that title,
Lord, coming from Elizabeth's inspired blessing here reveals
once again the greatness of this child even before this child
is born. And the sense from Elizabeth
is this, that she is even blessed because his mother Mary is here
in her presence and in her home with her Lord. It's an honor
and it's a privilege, the very favor of God is upon her that
her Lord has come into her home even while he's still yet in
his mother's womb. Christian, would you see here
that the Spirit in Elizabeth is doing what the Spirit will
do in Jesus' people, glorifying Jesus. She is glorifying Jesus
through her blessing. And the Spirit that filled Elizabeth
helped her to understand why it was that upon Mary's greeting,
her child left. It's the Spirit filling Elizabeth
that helps her understand what's going on with her child, why
her child leapt at that moment. Verse 44, the baby leapt in my
womb for joy. She's interpreting what's going
on. Now, just a side note for those of you who are still not
sure if a child in the womb is a person. Scripture is telling
you that the child in the womb expressed the emotion of joy. A person made in the image of
God possesses reason, intellect, will, and emotion, and this child
in the womb leaps for joy expressing emotion. And as with point one
and two, the blessing that Mary's relative expresses here is related
to Mary's child. Jesus is the reason she's honored
that Mary is in her house. Jesus is the reason that John
is expressing joy even in his mother's womb. Now, Elizabeth's
inspired utterance and blessing concludes by noting Mary's faith,
and we have number four, Mary's faith is blessed. Mary's faith
is blessed. Or we could say Mary is blessed
because of her faith. It's there in verse 45. And blessed
is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what
had been spoken to her by the Lord." Again, would you note
there, Mary is described as blessed. This time it's a different Greek
word than before, but it's conveying the same truth. This time it's
related to Mary's faith. This is saying Mary believes. Elizabeth uses one Greek word
here to refer to Mary that we translate into three words. She
who believed." That's one word and it's the word for faith.
This is describing her as having faith. What does Mary believe?
The text tells you that there would be a fulfillment of what
had been spoken to her by the Lord. Fulfillment is the same
word that's used for completion. It's the end of something. She
believed that God would complete everything He told her He would
complete. He would bring it to its full and total end. That
was everything that the Lord had said it was as good as done
in Mary's mind. So Mary's blessedness here is
related to her taking God at His word. Even in the days that
are going to bring challenges that are ahead of her related
to her being unmarried and pregnant, she can endure all of that with
great joy. Why? Because she believed. She believed
everything that the Lord had said. And because she believed,
she's blessed. Her son would one day say this
in John 20, 29, blessed are they who did not see and yet believed. Mary's expressing that here.
And Luke 1, in this moment, Mary had not witnessed one miracle
of Jesus. She'd never heard one word of
his teaching that was unlike the teaching of any other person. She'd never heard him forgive
any sin. She'd never heard him preach one single sermon. And
yet, she believed. And because she believed, we're
told here she was blessed. This final blessing that Elizabeth
expresses is again related to the child Mary carries in her
womb. Mary believes what she's been
told about Him and His greatness and His glory. and what God is
going to do. And this faith that Elizabeth
recognizes in Mary, friend, it's going to show up again and again
as you read the account of Jesus' life. Mary will be faithful throughout
Jesus' ministry. There'll be hiccups along the
way, there'll be concerns along the way, she'll waver along the
way, but she'll remain faithful. She's going to be there when
He's nailed to the cross. And she'll be there when he rises
from the dead. And before she completely fades
from the story, Luke is going to tell us in Acts 1 that she's
there as the book of Acts opens and the gospel goes forth and
forever changes the world. Mary's there. Mary's faith that
shows up again and again throughout her life is commended here at
the beginning of Luke. And that's what's excellent about
Mary. Would you note here as Elizabeth's
blessing concludes. that this must have been an incredible
comfort and consolation for Mary to hear this blessing coming
from Elizabeth. Can you imagine how Elizabeth's pregnancy that
the angel just announced and Elizabeth's blessing that Mary
may have never anticipated was going to come when she's walking
there to meet Elizabeth, how all of that would strengthen
the faith of a young teenage girl named Mary that God was
fulfilling His promises through? These two women finally coming
together in this one story is a reminder that sometimes the
Lord is merciful and gracious to strengthen our faith by the
faith of other believers. Sometimes you need your faith
strengthened. Sometimes the Lord does that
through the faith of other believers. Sometimes encouragement comes
and faith is strengthened from seeing others trust God. Sometimes
it's strengthened by hearing others bear witness that God
is faithful and good. Sometimes it's like it is here,
receiving from others what they say that they see in you when
you might not see it within yourself that you are acting faithful
in those moments. Elizabeth says to a teenage girl
who had been divinely appointed to play a part in God's plan
of salvation that she's blessed, that the child she is carrying
is blessed, that the relative she came to see is blessed by
her being in the presence of her Lord, and that Mary is blessed
by believing all the words God delivered to her through the
angel Gabriel. I wonder if Mary had any idea,
as she took each of those steps across that 80-mile journey to
Elizabeth's house, that her arrival would be providentially part
of God's plan to put steel in the spine of her faith and to
encourage her faith by commending the faith that she was already
displaying. Church, I hope, and I think it
hopefully goes without saying, that you see in all this that
Elizabeth is not worshiping Mary. Only God's to be worshiped, and
Mary's not God. She's not divine. She's not sinless.
She's not a mediator of grace. She doesn't have to be a perpetual
virgin, but she does have to have faith. And Elizabeth says
that she sees the faith of Mary in its most excellent, and it's
a reason that she's blessed. What we find in Mary that's beautiful
and that's profound is not that she's a conduit of grace, the
queen of heaven, or a sinless perpetual virgin. What we see
is that she's faithful, that she believes the Word of God.
Here's a woman who shows Elizabeth and all of us what it looks like
to trust God's Word. She believes what had been spoken
to her by the Lord. And His Word was enough for her.
It was enough to direct the steps of the godly woman. It's enough
to lead you to salvation. And the encouragement that you
get from all this, the conviction that comes our way is for us
to believe. This is what's excellent about
Mary, and all that is excellent about Mary is, again, directly
related to Mary's son. Mary doesn't have to be perfect.
Mary doesn't have to be sinless. Mary doesn't have to be a mediator.
Mary doesn't have to be God. She couldn't be, but she doesn't
have to be because the child she was carrying was all of those.
Perfect, sinless, our mediator, our Savior, God's Son. Mary didn't have to be any of
those things. She just needed to believe. And her example of
faith is excellent and commendable. J.C. Ryle said this, do we know
anything of this precious faith? We know anything of this precious
faith. This, after all, is the question that concerns us. Do
we know anything of the faith of God's elect, the faith which
is of the operation of God? He said, let us never rest till
we know it by experience. Once knowing it, let us never
cease to pray that our faith may grow exceedingly. Better
a thousand times to be rich in faith than rich in gold." He
said, better a thousand times to be rich in faith than rich
in gold. Gold will be worthless in the unseen world to which
we are all traveling. Faith will be owned in that world
before God the Father and the holy angels. When the great white
throne is set and the books are opened, when the dead are called
from the grave and receiving their final sentence, the value
of faith will at length be fully known. Men will learn then, if
they never learned before, how true are the words. And he references
Luke 1.45, blessed are they that believed. So the question is,
do you believe? Do you see the example of faith
and do you have faith in your life? Do you believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ? Do you believe the words that
are spoken by the Lord in this text about who Mary's caring
Mary's faith is convicting. Three takeaways, and we'll close. Number one, the essence of faith
is strengthened by fellow believers. The essence of faith is strengthened
by fellow believers, and I hope you see that here. As Mary shows
up, her faith is strengthened by Elizabeth, who's a believer
who commends her faith and who strengthens her faith in this
difficult moment. The essence of faith is strengthened
by fellow believers. Number two, the blessing of believers
is related to Jesus. The blessing of believers is
related to Jesus. Every way in which Mary is blessed
here by Elizabeth is related to Jesus. The way that you'll
find joy and happiness and rejoicing in your life is going to be related
to Jesus. If Jesus is absent, joy is absent,
blessing is absent. Number three, the excellence
of Mary is found in her faith. The excellence of Mary is found
in her faith. I don't need to think about Mary the way a Pope
thinks about Mary, whether or not he's speaking ex cathedra.
Who cares? I need to think about Mary the
way a blameless, faithful Elizabeth thinks about Mary. And the way
she thinks about Mary is when she looks at her, she sees her
faith is excellent. That's the way I pray that we
would think about Mary and let that be convicting as it regards
our faith. Would you pray with me? Merciful
Father, you are a loving and gracious God. We are reminded
from the text that we have before us this morning that you genuinely
care for your people. You give them faith and you strengthen
the faith that you give them. Thank you for the beautiful and
profound faith that is displayed and commended here in Mary. May the faith that's found in
her be found in believers that are part of our church. May it
be a Spirit-given faith and a Spirit-directed faith, a Spirit-informed faith,
and a Spirit-fueled faith that glorifies our Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Thank you for our Redeemer, a
true Savior who is perfectly sinless. whose grace is abundant,
who is our mediator and our master and our Lord. Everything we need,
let us be reminded from this morning, is found in Christ alone. In Him we're blessed, and in
Him you've shown us your favor. And eternally, forever, we are
grateful. So till He returns, or until
we draw our last breath, May our faith in Christ be an excellent
faith, a commendable faith, and may it be a blessing to us as
people. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen.
Elizabeth's Blessing
Series Luke
| Sermon ID | 123024161444125 |
| Duration | 43:22 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Luke 1:39-45 |
| Language | English |
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