#4 Lu.
Introduction:
Ordinarily I would deviate from my usual series of
sermons
in preaching through a given book of the Bible on
Mother's Day. However, this time I will take right up where
I left off last Sunday. If I searched the Bible through I
could
not find a more appropriate text for a Mother's Day
message. If I had tried to plan it out in advance so
that
this text would fall on Mother's
Day there is no way in the
world
that I could have done it. It just seems
to be the
providence
of God that worked out this way. God
worked it
out. I didn't.
Our text today deals with two very special mothers.
Well, I guess all mothers are
special. Are they not? But
these
two are extra special. They are Mary,
the mother of
Jesus and the other is Elizabeth, the
mother of John the
Baptist. You could not expect to find two women
anywhere
any more joyful than these two
are in our text.
I.
Mary's call on Elisabeth
V. 39-40, "And Mary arose in those days, and went into
the hill country with haste,
into a city of
into the house of Zacharias, and
saluted Elisabeth." In our
text last week the angel,
Gabriel, appeared to Mary and
informed
her that she would give birth to Jesus.
He also
informed
her that her cousin, Elisabeth was already six
months
along with child. So just as quickly as
she could go
Mary went to the home of Zacharias to
visit with her cousin,
I am not sure just how close Mary and Elisabeth had been
as cousins because of the wide
difference in their ages.
Mary was a young woman and
But now there was something that these two
women had in
common. They were both were chosen by the Lord to
give birth
to two very special children.
II. Mary's greeting to Elisabeth
Luke said that upon her arrival at the home of
that Mary saluted
military
salute. The word that here is
translated, salute,
means
to give a greeting. Mary went in and
greeted
V. 41, "And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard
the salutation of Mary, the
babe leaped in her womb..." When
Elisabeth heard the voice of Mary, little
Baby John within
reacted
vigorously. He just about kicked through
the
paneling. What the deal was that Mary was carrying
within
her womb the Christ child, the
very Son of God. Now little
John was not yet born, but some how or
other through the
supernatural
powers of God, the spirit within little John was
aware
that he was in the presence of Deity God and he reacted
the way that most babies react
when they get excited. He
began
to kick. I am sure that this is not the
first time
that Elisabeth had felt him
kick. But in all probability she
had never had him kick that
hard before.
Now the thing of uppermost importance here is that the
child
within Mary is indeed the very Son of God.
But there
is another matter here that is
also important, especially in
our modern times. That baby within the womb of Elisabeth was
six months along. He was three months away from his birth.
Yet at six months he was able to sense
that he was in the
presence
of the Son of God. The point is that he
was alive.
He was much alive. Elisabeth could tell by the way that he
kicked
that he was very much alive.
He was not only physically alive, but he had a spirit
dwelling
within that little body. If all he had
was body, he
could
not have sensed the presence of Jesus.
It was his
spirit
nature that sensed the presence of Jesus.
It was not
his physical body that sensed
the presence of Jesus. It was
his spirit. Furthermore, that three month baby that was
in
the womb of Mary was also
alive. John was not sensing a
lifeless
physical body in the womb of Mary. John
was sensing
Spirit Deity God within the womb of
Mary. He was sensing the
Son of God which dwelt within Mary. I suppose that in modern
terminology,
He would not be called a body today. He
would
be called a fetus. Now I am not trying to say that fetus is
an inappropriate word
medically speaking. But He was more
than a fetus. He was and is the very Son of God. Spirit God
indwelt
that fetus or body or whatever it should be called.
Do you know what I a driving at?
I am saying that when
mothers
and daddies and doctors or whoever may be involved
decide
to terminate a fetus they are terminating more than
just a fetus. They are terminating the life of living human
being
that has a spirit dwelling within.
But I am not preaching this message this morning just to
sound
off against the ungodly practice of abortion.
I do not
hesitate
to say that I am against it. But I am
preaching
this message this morning to
give special honors to
motherhood
in general and to give special honor to the Christ
child
that was carried in Mary's womb.
(V. 41), "...and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy
Ghost." Technically these were two separate
actions. John
leaping
within Elisabeth's womb was one action.
Elisabeth
being
filled with the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit was a second
action. One was a result of the other. Elisabeth being
filled
with the Holy Spirit was a result of John leaping for
joy within her womb.
III. Elisabeth's words to Mary
Elisabeth was overwhelmed with joy.
She was so
overwhelmed
with joy that she could not contain herself.
V.
42, "And she spake out with a loud
voice, and said, Blessed
art thou among women, and
blessed is the fruit of thy womb."
Elisabeth, too, was aware that she was in the presence
of Almighty God. She did not have to be told that Mary was
with child. She knew it.
And she knew that this was no
ordinary
child. She knew that this is the very
Son of God.
She cried out and said, "Blessed are thou," talking to
Mary.
She said, "...blessed is the fruit of thy womb,"
talking
about the baby within Mary's womb.
V. 43, "And whence is this to me, that the mother of my
Lord should come to me?" "How did I rate such an honor as
this that the mother of my Lord
should come and pay me a
visit?" Sure, she knew that Mary was her cousin. But to
her, Mary was not just a
cousin. She was the mother of her
Lord.
Elisabeth felt that for this reason it was a special
honor
to have Mary come to her home and pay her a visit. She
felt that this was an honor that
she, herself, did not
deserve.
V. 44, "For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation
sounded
in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy."
That baby experienced joy. Within his mother's womb at six
months
he experience joy. What in the world
would a little
fellow
think when he is carried into a doctor's office if he
could
only know that his mother is there to sign his death
warrant. Oh, well, I do not want to get off on that
again.
Let me get back to John and Jesus. Even in the womb of
Elisabeth John was joyful to be in the
presence of the Son of
God.
V. 45, "And blessed is she that believed: for there
shall
be a performance of those things which were told her
from the Lord." Here
speaks
of Mary as one who believed what the angel had told
her. She was not filled with doubt. She believed.
And
Elisabeth said that she is blessed for
believing. In
contrast
to this, Zacharias had been punished for not
believing,
but Mary is blessed for believing.
One of the special blessings attached to her faith is
that her faith would not be in
vain. God had promised and
God would keep His promise. God always keeps His promises.
IV. Mary's response to Elisabeth
V. 46, "And Mary said, My soul doth
magnify the Lord..."
Mary had earlier spoken. She had spoken words of greeting to
Elisabeth.
We were not told what words she spoke.
But now
she speaks words of praise to
the Lord and her words are
recorded
for our benefit. From the depths of her
soul Mary
rejoiced
and praised the Lord. Far beyond what
she could put
into words, her soul just
worshipped and praised the Lord.
Let me ask you. Did you ever feel that way? Do you feel
that way right now? I do.
Far beyond what I am able to
express
to you this morning my very innermost being worships
and praises the Lord.
V. 47, "And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour."
In calling God her Savior, Mary here does
not distinguish
between
God the Father and God the Son. She just
spoke of
God as being her Savior. To be technical, God the Son is the
Savior in that He is the one who would die
on the cross and
obtain
salvation for us. But in a broader
sense, God the
Father may also be called our Savior,
because it was Him who
designed
the plan of salvation and sent Jesus to the cross.
As I said, at this point Mary does not distinguish
between
them. She is just grateful to God for
His saving
grace. She was grateful to God that through the Son
of God
that she carried in her womb
that God would some day save her
nation
from Gentile dominion. But she was most
grateful to
God that through Jesus God had provided
for her own soul
salvation
so that she could stay out of the fires of hell.
V. 48, "For he hath regarded the low estate of his
handmaiden:
for, behold, from henceforth all generations
shall
call me blessed. In addition to saving
her soul, God
had blessed her by giving her the
special privilege of
bringing
forth Jesus Christ into the world. Mary
felt that
this was a privilege that she
did not in the least deserve.
She knew that in all the generations to
come she would be
called
"Blessed" because she had this privilege.
And she was blessed to have this privilege. It was a
privilege
that no other woman in all the history of
the world would ever have.
Mary went on to praise God for His blessing to her. V.
49, "For he that is mighty hath done
to me great things; and
holy is his name."
But she praised Him not only for the blessing that He
had given to her. Mary praised God for the blessings that He
pours
out on others. Listen. V. 50, "And his mercy is on
them that fear him from
generation to generation." Mary
gave
birth
to Jesus many generations ago. God
blessed her many
generations
ago, but God blesses those who fear Him in every
generation. In any generation, if a man, woman, boy or
girl
will repent of His sins and
trust in the saving grace of God
then God will save his
soul. In any generation if a saved
person
will reverence God and give God the rulership of his
life, then God will bless him
for doing so. No man, woman,
boy or girl who will put God in
control of his life will ever
have reason to regret it.
V. 51, "He hath showed strength with his arm; he hath
scattered
the proud in the imagination of their hearts." God
is almighty and those who in
their self-pride rise against
Him will live to rue the day.
V. 52, "He hath put down the mighty from their seats..."
That is, God has taken the seat of rulership away from mighty
kings. God has been known to remove mighty kings
from off
the throne and to give the
throne to another. King Saul is
an example of this. He will do the same for the Anti-Christ
in the end-time events.
On the other hand, God has been known to take a nobody
and to exalt him to a place of
high honor. (V. 52), "...and
exalted
them of low degree." David is an example of this. I
think
Mary thought of herself in this light.
She considered
that in allowing her to bring
forth the Christ-child, she was
exalted
to a place of high honor.
V. 53, "He hath filled the hungry with good things; and
the rich he hath sent empty
away." Now listen, Mary is
talking
at least to some measure about the material good
things
that God had blessed her with. She is
talking about
God providing food, clothing, medical
care, whatever one
needs
in the way of physical and material needs.
But, in the
main, she is also talking about
things that are far more
valuable
than the material things of life. When
people
honestly
look to God to fill their need, God will fill their
lives
with good things that are worth far more than all the
money
in the world.
V. 54-55, " He hath holpen
his servant
remembrance
of his mercy, As he spake to our
fathers, to
Abraham, and to his seed for ever." God had done many good
things
for the people of
today
and He will continue to do so in the future.
But, of
all the things that God has
ever done for the nation of
time. He was using the virgin
Mary to bring forth His Son
into the world. This is a promise that God had made to
Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. This is a promise that God
has remembered and a promise
that God would keep. God had
promised
that through the Seed of Abraham He would bless all
the families of the earth. The babe that Mary carrie
God together.
But after a stay of three months Elisabeth was
about
ready to deliver. Mary was about three
months with
child
herself now. It was now time for Mary to
go back home
and to make contact with Joseph
and to trust God to help her
in whatever she would have to
face.
VI. Some words for you here today
But now listen Mary was indeed blessed of God. She was
blessed
above all other mothers of the world.
But that does
not mean that Elisabeth was not
blessed. She did not carry
the Christ within her womb, but
she did have the forerunner
of the Christ. She had the privilege of giving birth to John
the Baptist.
Now listen, my friend, just as Mary and Elisabeth
praised
God for the birth of Jesus Christ, even so should we.
Without Jesus there would be no salvation
for any of us. The
only alternative we would have
would be to suffer forever in
a fiery hell. I thank God for Jesus Christ, my Savior who
was born into human flesh so
that He could die on the cross
for me. I thank God that I have had the privilege of
trusting
Him as my Savior and I thank God that I am saved.
Now if there is someone here this morning
who is unsaved, I
beg of you that you turn to
Jesus Christ and that you trust
Jesus Christ to save your soul.
In addition to thanking God for Jesus and for my
salvation,
I thank God for the godly woman who brought Him
into the world. I know that Mary is not God in any way nor
is she equal to God in any
way, but I truly thank God that
she was the kind of godly woman
that God could use to bring
Jesus into the world. I thank God also for Elisabeth.
Elisabeth brought John the Baptist into
the world that he
might
be the forerunner of Jesus and get things ready for the
coming
of the Lord.
And listen, mother, I thank God also for you. I praise
God for every mother in this congregation. How about it,
dad? Aren't you thank for you
wife, the mother of your
children? I am and I know that these husbands are
also. But
not only us, how about it sons
and daughters? Are you not
thankful
to God in heaven for giving you the mother that you
have?
And mother, listen again. I am grateful that God has
blessed
you with a good husband and a good home and with the
children
that you brought into the world. I know
that God
used the laws of nature in
giving you the particular children
that you have, but I believe
that those children are just as
much a gift form God as were the
children of Mary and
Elisabeth.
Now, I know, there is no comparison between the
best child in the world today
and the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is just no comparison. Jesus is by far the greatest
gift that God ever gave to the
world. But never-the-less, I
believe
that we ought to be thankful to God for giving you
your children. Don't you?
I do thank God for them. Don't
you? I thank God for each child, each grand-child,
each
great-grand
child. And I ask God to help us to win
each and
every
one of them to Jesus Christ that they might be saved.
I pray to God that not one of them will
wind up in the fires
of hell.
I also ask God to help us that after they are won to
Jesus for salvation that we will be able
to teach them the
truths
of God's word and to lead them to life godly lives.
Conclusion:
Now listen everyone. Everyone of us needs
to be saved.
Mother, father, grand-mother,
grand-father, son, daughter, we
all need to be saved. Now if you are not saved, God is
giving
you an opportunity to get saved today.
While we have
an invitation hymn won't you
turn to the God of heaven in
confession
of your sin and your need of salvation and won't
you turn to Jesus Christ right
now and trust Him to save your
soul?
Just as every one of us needed to be saved, even so
every
one of us who is saved needs to dedicate our life to
the service of God. There may be Christians here today who
need to re-dedicate their lives
to Jesus Christ. There may
be some Christian who needs to
place his or her membership
here in this church. While we have this invitation hymn
won't
you come and yield your life to the Lord?