This message was delivered at Hillcrest Baptist Church on the evening of December 14, 2014. This message examines the amazing insight that Mary had about who Jesus is. Included are my sermon notes, and a link to the sermon audio. Please know that the notes are not necessarily a full transcript of the message.
Mary Knew Sermon Audio
Sermon Notes:
Luke 1:46-55
v.46:
Mary received a gift from God, and this was her response.
Her joy was so great that her soul magnified the Lord. That is, she truly praised God, out of love and joy. Not just empty ritual.
v.47:
Although Mary may not of fully realized the scope of what was happening, she knew that her salvation was in God and Him alone.
Her faith was not in doubt (if it were, she wouldn’t have been chosen in the first place).
v.48:
Mary knew that she was God’s servant, and that compared to Him, she was lowly.
Ephesians 4:6
Matthew 10:24
She knew that she was not worthy, and that gave her all the more reason to praise God.
So, when Mary said that she would be called blessed, she wasn’t being conceited, it’s what Gabriel had told her.
Luke 1:28
We are all blessed, who have been chosen to serve God.
She was acknowledging the greatness of the gift (Jesus), and knew that others would recognize it as well.
Luke 1:32-33
v.49:
Mary definitely had a humble attitude; she didn’t say “look what I have done, see how great I am.” Instead Mary gave all of the credit, honor and glory to God.
She acknowledged His supreme holiness, and His holy name.
Acts 4:12
v.50:
God shows mercy to those who fear Him.
Without a fear of God, there is no respect of God.
Where there is no respect of God, there will be no love of God.
We love Him because He first loved us, and we fear Him because He is the Almighty God!
v.51:
As the Almighty God, He Wields a strong arm! This arm is an arm of judgment.
He scatters (separates) the proud.
The proud won’t trust anyone but themselves. For this reason they do not have the faith necessary for salvation; therefore, they will be separated from God.
To be separated from God is to be in hell.
The only hope that a proud man has, is what he can imagine in his heart.
Romans 1:21
It’s not that they don’t know God, it that they won’t trust and glorify Him. They won’t trust anyone but themselves.
v.52:
It is this same arm that crushes His enemies.
Even the mightiest of men are nothing to God.
God sets up kingdoms and takes them down according to His will and purpose. Nothing that anyone can do can stop it from happening.
It is the same arm that exalts the lowly.
This is the Greek word “tapeinos,” and it speaks primarily of ones attitude.
God will exalt the meek and the humble. These are the people who will trust and rely on God.
Your own strength will get you nowhere, but God’s strength will support and protect you from now until eternity.
v.53:
The words hunger and rich, again, speak to ones attitude more so than wealth.
We all know that wealth doesn’t exclude one from God, but one’s attitude does.
Those who hunger for God will be well fed, with “good things.”
Those who believe that happiness is found in riches will receive nothing of God.
“Human history is the terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.” – C.S. Lewis
Luke 16:25
The rich man trusted only in his riches, consequently, his riches were all he got.
Luke 12:16-21
Matthew 16:26
v.54:
This verse indicates that Mary knew Jesus would somehow save His people.
This word “help” literally means to support from falling, to hold by the hand. It is a picture of the redemptive work of Christ, the Messiah.
This, of course, is only possible because of God’s loving mercy.
v.55:
Mary understood the messianic prophecies, and knew that Jesus was the one spoken of to the fathers.
Genesis 12:2-3
Isaiah 9:6-7
Luke 1:31-33
Through Jesus Christ, all the families of the earth will be blessed.
Christ will one day purge the earth, and restore it to it’s original, edenic, pre-sin condition. At that point, all the families of the earth will be blessed. And this blessing will be eternal.
Luke 1:33
There is every indication that Mary knew quite a lot about who Jesus would be.
She was told by Gabriel:
Luke 1:31-32, 35
As we just saw, she understood the prophecies, and lastly, she pondered these things in her heart.
Luke 2:19
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