LUKE 1:39-56 BLESSED ARE THEY WHO BELIEVE2011 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 1:39-56 Blessed Are They Who Believe

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You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2011. Well, as we continue our journey through the book of Luke chapter 1 this morning, we're

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We first of all, if you remember going back a couple of weeks, we saw that God sent the angel Gabriel to make an announcement to a man named Zacharias. He was a priest and he was serving in the temple when the angel appeared to him. He was an old man. Both him and his wife were old. And yet God made the announcement through Gabriel that they were going to have a child.

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Now throughout all their years, even though they were old, they had no children for it says that Elizabeth was barren.

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And yet, in their old age, God says, now I'm going to give you a child. And that child that they're promised is going to be John the Baptist, who will be the forerunner to Jesus Christ, the forerunner to the Messiah. And so there's this amazing announcement that's made. And you might remember that Zacharias did not believe the angel when he told him about the

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the announcement or told them the news that God had sent him to deliver. He didn't believe that they were going to have a son when the angel pronounced it to him. And as a result, he was caused to be mute. That is, he could not speak until the child was born. And so God is doing an amazing work here at the beginning of the book of Luke in preparing the way to bring forth the Messiah, to bring forth Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.

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Well, then as we went on in Luke chapter 1, we saw the angel Gabriel sent to another person with another message. This time the angel Gabriel was sent to Mary.

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And Mary was there in Nazareth. She was betrothed. She was not yet married, but she was engaged to be married. And the angel appears to her and says, Mary, you're blessed and you are going to have a child. And you're not going to have a child by human or natural means, but God is going to give you

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A supernatural experience that you are going, even though you're a virgin, you are going to give birth to the Messiah. You're going to call his name Jesus because he's going to save his people from their sins.

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And so these two announcements are given here in chapter 1. The announcement to Zacharias, the announcement to Mary. And where we're at here in Luke chapter 1 verse 39 through 56 is immediately following that announcement to Mary. And you might remember that the angel gave Mary insight and told her that her cousin Elizabeth was pregnant and six months along in that pregnancy.

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And so what we see here in verse 39 and 40 is Mary responding to that. In verse 39 it says, Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste to a city of Judah and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. So the angel tells her that Elizabeth is pregnant. And so after this vision, after the angel appears to her, Mary gets up and she goes to

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Now, Judah was located in the southern part of Israel. The city of Jerusalem is in Judah, and so it's Jerusalem and the surrounding areas. And so, Judah was located in the southern part of Israel.

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Nazareth, where Mary is from, is in the northern part of Israel. And so it's probably between 50 to 80 miles that she traveled to go visit her cousin Elizabeth. It's very possible that Elizabeth was there in Hebron, which was a city for the Levites and priests. And since Zacharias was a priest, it's very possible that that's where they lived. And so that would have been quite a journey, probably three to four days.

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And so Mary gets this news from the angel Gabriel and she gets up and she makes haste and she hurries down to go visit her cousin Elizabeth. Verse 41, And it happened when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary that the babe leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

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And so now Mary comes to Elizabeth and as she greets, you know, she walks in the door and she says, Hey guys, I'm here. And the babe inside of Elizabeth leaps for joy. There's quite a bit of movement that's going on. There's something that's happening. And Elizabeth is given some, well, some insight from the Holy Spirit about what is going on. Now it's probably at this point that John the Baptist is filled with the Holy Spirit.

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It says here that Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit, but it also says that John, inside her womb, leaps for joy.

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The angel Gabriel tells us in Luke chapter 1 verse 15 that John will be great in the sight of the Lord. He shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb, Gabriel said. So it's probably at this point that already God is beginning to prepare the way for the Messiah, filling Elizabeth with the Holy Spirit and probably John the Baptist as well who is in her womb.

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Verse 42, Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. But why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.

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And so here Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit and she responds to Mary as Mary comes in and greets them. She tells Mary that she is blessed. Blessed are you among women, Mary. This is the same thing that Gabriel tells her. Blessed are you. You're blessed. Why are you blessed? Well, because of the fruit of your womb. You're blessed because of what God has done in causing you to be pregnant.

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At this point, remember Mary, she gets up, she makes haste, she goes to Elizabeth, and yet she is pregnant. She is there with Elizabeth, and God has already done the work. She has conceived.

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So Elizabeth says, blessed are you. This word blessed, it means to speak well of. It's the word that we get the English word eulogy from. You know, usually that's shared at a funeral, right? Where, you know, you're speaking well of the person who is deceased. And that's the same idea that is based upon this Greek word. It means to speak well of. And so

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Elizabeth says, Mary, you're blessed. You're spoken well of because of the work that God has done. And the fruit of your womb, I always want to say fruit of the loom, but that's different. The fruit of your womb is blessed as well. There's good things going on here. God is doing a great work.

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And Elizabeth takes it so far as to say, I'm not worthy. Like, what is this? How is it granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? Elizabeth has some amazing insight here from the Holy Spirit. She realizes, she recognizes that Mary is the mother of the Lord.

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Now, I kind of picture Mary here a little bit relieved. You know, she's like, okay, good. I don't have to explain that one. You know, I'm glad the Lord went before me and explained it to her so that I don't have to, like, tell them this crazy story and be wondering if they're going to believe me. But God sent, you know, ahead of Mary and gave Elizabeth insight. And Elizabeth understands, Mary, you're pregnant. Not only are you pregnant, but you are pregnant now.

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With the Lord. That you're going to give birth to the Lord. You're going to give birth to Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And so Elizabeth is fully aware here that there's an amazing work of God. She knows...

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that Mary is pregnant, but she also knows who Mary is pregnant with, who the baby will be. And so she says in verse 45, blessed is she who believed for there will be a fulfillment of those things which are told her from the Lord. Notice that there in the beginning of verse 45, blessed is she who believed, blessed is she who believed.

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This word blessed is a different word blessed than what she used before. This word blessed means to be fully satisfied. She says, blessed are you. Mary, you are fully satisfied because you believed. Fully satisfied. Are you fully satisfied? Can you say that this morning? That you've come here and you're blessed. You're fully satisfied. You need nothing else.

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You've got everything that you need. You're fully satisfied. David's son Solomon decided to try to satisfy himself with the things of this life. You can read about that in the book of Ecclesiastes. He goes on this journey. He determines. He sets out. He's basically got unlimited resources. He's wealthy beyond really anything that we could imagine. And he says, whatever I...

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Thought about doing? I went ahead and did it. He built stuff to try to satisfy himself. He had relationships to try to satisfy himself. He partook of alcoholic beverages. He pursued activities. He pursued entertainment. He did all of these things. Everything that he could possibly do, he did to try to satisfy himself. But all the way through it, he's saying in desperation, it's all vanity. It's all vanity.

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It's all emptiness. None of it satisfies. None of it really meets the need. He comes to the end of Ecclesiastes, the end of his journey, and he realizes the only thing that can satisfy me is God. And you know, people today are still going through that same journey, that same cycle.

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trying all kinds of things in this life to bring satisfaction, to satisfy, because there's an emptiness inside. There's a thirst. There's a need that we have. But the reality is that only one thing can satisfy us, and that is a real relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Elizabeth tells Mary, Mary, you're blessed because you believed.

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And that idea, that thing that she's expressing there is still true to this day. It is those who believe who are blessed. Or it is those who believe who are fully satisfied. If you want to be fully satisfied, you will find it by believing in God. By believing God at His Word. By believing in Jesus Christ.

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Elizabeth tells Mary, blessed is she who believed, notice, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord. She says, Mary, you're going to be fully satisfied because all the things that God told you are going to be fulfilled. Now, some people misunderstand what faith really is all about. And they teach all kinds of false doctrine about faith.

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And how you have to believe. But when they're talking about faith and belief, they're saying that you just have to say what you want and believe that you're going to get it, and then God will give it to you. And as long as you have faith in those claims that you're making, as long as you have faith or believe in what you are saying, then they declare that you will get it.

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That's why I'm always very careful to define faith in this way. Faith is obedience to God at His Word. Faith is not just, you know, taking a step that you're uncertain about the results, going in a direction that you're not sure where it leads. Sometimes that's faith and sometimes that's just foolishness.

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Faith is a response to God speaking. Faith is a response to God's word. It's obedience. It's stepping forward. It's responding to God as he is speaking. Faith is not about, you know, just believe in whatever you want. It's believe in what God has said. It's not that you should believe in order to get for yourself. Believe in order that the will of God would be fulfilled.

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It's not as so many proclaim that you can name it and claim it. As long as you have faith, you can name it and claim it and it'll be yours. No, faith, belief is about responding to what God has spoken.

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She tells Mary the fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord. See, the Lord spoke to Mary through the angel Gabriel and said, this is what's going to happen. You're going to have a son. And Mary believed and so she's fully satisfied. She's blessed because she believed what God said. In the same way, today I would share with you, blessed are they who believe.

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Those who believe God at His word will be blessed. They will be fully satisfied. What are some of those things that we can believe God about? Well, for starters, John 3.16, right? For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever would believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. This is what God said. This is who God has revealed Himself to us to be.

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That He is a God who loves us so much that He gave us His only begotten Son. If you want to be fully satisfied, that's where it begins. To believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, that we would not perish but have everlasting life. There's also many other promises of the Scripture that we can believe as well. Romans 8.28, we love to quote, right? All things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.

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Those are things that we can believe and we can be fully satisfied when we believe God at His Word. We can be fully satisfied even though our immediate conditions don't really give us cause to be satisfied or content. Perhaps our immediate conditions are that of lack or want or need or hurt or hardship.

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And yet in the midst of it, we can be fully satisfied because we know, because we believe God at His word, that He's working it all together for good. Because we believe God. We can also believe the Lord about His promise to return. John chapter 14 and many other portions throughout the scriptures. You'll be fully satisfied when your hope is on the return of Jesus Christ. The hope of eternity. Revelation chapter 21 says,

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We went through it not too long ago, looking at that eternal home that God has prepared for us. Believing God at His word, believing these promises is what will bring us to the place where we are fully satisfied. Blessed are they who believe. And as we look at this passage this morning, I want to encourage you

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to believe. Believe God at His Word. Do you believe? Are you fully satisfied? Because if you're not fully satisfied, you sit here and man, you're just miserable and you wish things were different. If you're not fully satisfied with who you are or where you are, I would suggest to you that you need to believe God at His Word.

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You need to stop listening to yourself and your own emotions or your own feelings. You need to stop listening to what everybody else is saying or what the world is telling you. You need to stop listening to the advertisers who want to sell you stuff. And you need to believe God at His word if you're not satisfied today.

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You can be, you need to be fully satisfied. But it doesn't come by things or by relationships or by, you know, narcotics or alcoholic beverages. It doesn't come from pursuing things of this world. It comes from believing God at His Word.

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Blessed are they who believe. And we see this in Mary in verse 46 and 47. It says, And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. Mary is excited here. She can't believe what's going on. She says, My soul magnifies the Lord. She's crying out in excitement. She says, My spirit has rejoiced.

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There's great joy because, well, she's believed God. She's fully satisfied because God is fulfilling His Word and she has believed it. Blessed are they who believe. She's fully satisfied. She's praising the Lord. That's why we can praise the Lord no matter what's going on in our lives. Because we believe God at His Word. We don't believe what our eyes say. We walk by faith and not by sight.

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We don't believe what our feelings say. We walk by faith and not by sight. And so we can be blessed even in the midst of difficulty in this life. We can be fully satisfied no matter what we're going through because we believe God and His Word. Mary believed and she's blessed. The praise that flows out of her heart, we'll read in just a moment, it's beautiful, it's magnificent.

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And as she brings forth this praise, as she brings forth this worship, man, there's much here that we get to learn about. Are you fully satisfied this morning? Are you praising the Lord? Blessed are they who believe. Well, there's six things I'd like to share with you this morning based upon this praise that she brings forth.

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Six things that we can look at and see what God does for those who believe. Some amazing things, I believe, that God has in store for us. And so as we get started, going on in verse 48, we begin to see Mary's praise. She sings out this song. She sings out this praise to the Lord. And the first thing that we see here from her praise is that God regards the lowly.

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God regards the lowly. Look at verse 48. She says, Here's what Mary declares. She says, She's recognizing here her position.

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She describes it as the lowly state of his maidservant. She's in a lowly place. Mary was not wealthy. She was not powerful. She was not influential. She's recognizing who she is. She's acknowledging her own weakness and imperfection. She's declaring, I don't deserve this honor and the privilege that God is giving to me. She was in a lowly state.

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Now Jesus, we read about in Philippians chapter 2, that he humbled himself, that he lowered himself, that he took the form of a bondservant. That was not his natural condition because he's God, but he lowered himself. He humbled himself in that way. Mary's condition, on the other hand, is just like yours and mine. Not that we are this great and we have to humble ourselves, but

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But that we, when we are finally convinced of the truth, that we will recognize that we are in a lowly state. We're in a lowly state. We think of humility so many times that it's like you have to bow yourself down or lower yourself. But it's not yourself that you have to lower. It's the estimation of yourself. Because you think you're so awesome. And you think you're wonderful. But...

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Your perception of yourself does not match with reality. I hate to tell you that. My perception of myself doesn't match with reality, okay? We're all in the same boat together. The reality is we're in a lowly state. We're in a lowly position. We're weak. We're sinful. We have no strength, no power on our own. It's those who recognize that that are blessed.

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that are regarded by the Lord. She says, look, I was in this lowly state. This is who I am. This is where I am. And He has regarded me. He's paid attention to me. He's blessed me. She realizes who she is, where she stands. Her natural condition is in that lowly state.

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She's a human being. She's imperfect. She's sinful, just like you and I. And yet, God regarded her, and she says, Behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. God has done such an amazing work that for the rest of eternity, she'll be known as this one who has been blessed by God.

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This lowly state is not something that, you know, we have to bring ourselves to. It's where we already are. We just have to recognize it. And if you're not lowly, you don't believe in God. You don't believe God at His Word. Because our lowly state is exactly what God describes of us through His Word. You know, so often we try to come to God with what we consider to be our strengths.

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You know, we have these wonderful things that we can offer to God. Look, God, here I am. Aren't you glad I finally gave in? Aren't you glad I finally decided to serve you? Aren't you glad I'm finally here? We come with what we perceive to be our strengths because we have this high estimation of ourselves. But the reality is we're in a lowly state. And so we need to be humble. We need to have humility to recognize that we are weak and that we are empty and that we are lowly.

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Now here's the beautiful thing. As we recognize, as we admit that that's who we are, that's where we are, then God regards the lowly. He pays attention to those who are lowly. You see, we come with such strength saying, you know, hey, all right, I'm here. I can do this and I can do that. And man, God, I bet you can't wait to put me to work. But when we come to God in emptiness, in brokenness, God says, now you're talking.

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Now I can pay attention to you. You ever wonder why God doesn't pay much attention to you? Maybe you need to be doing some humbling of yourself, some lowliness that needs to be involved. Psalm 34, verse 18 says, The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart and saves such as has a contrite spirit. Those who are broken, those who are humble, those who recognize that they need God. Those are the ones who,

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That God regards. Those are the ones that God is near. Paul tells us that God's strength is made perfect in weakness. And so here is Mary's praising God. She's saying, He's regarded my lowly state. We also can learn here that God regards the lowly. Blessed are they who believe. This is what God says of who we are. Do you believe God at His word? Listen, you will never be fully satisfied until you believe God.

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What God says about your lowly state. Until you recognize and acknowledge your sinful condition and your need. Even as Christians, I'm not talking about just coming to salvation, but as Christians, we overestimate who we are. We stop depending upon the Lord.

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God regards the lowly, those who are in that lowly state, those who acknowledge their need. We need to turn to Jesus, acknowledging our need, to allow Him to fill that need. He pays attention to the lowly. Well, that's the first thing we learn about God through her praise here. But the second thing we find out in verse 49 is that God does great things. Look at verse 49. He says,

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For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. So God regards the lowly, but he also does great things. God does great things. She says, he who is mighty has done great things for me, Mary says. Amazing. God did something great for Mary. She had this incredible privilege of giving birth to the Messiah.

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Incredible honor that God has given to her. And she's beside herself. She can't believe it. He who is mighty has done great things for me. God's paid attention to me. He's ministered to me. He's blessed me. In the same way, God has done great things for you. Did you know that? God has done great things for you.

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Of course, first of all, we could look at the cross and the salvation that God has offered. Even if God never did anything else for us, that's enough. That's enough for us to praise Him for the rest of eternity because He offers to us forgiveness and salvation and the hope of eternity through the cross, through what Jesus did for us. But He goes even above and beyond that. And He gives us promise. He gives us hope.

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He gives us opportunity to serve Him, to receive everlasting rewards for things that we do for Him in this life. He's given to us incredible things. He's done great things for us, both in the things that are to come, but also in this life. Listen, for those of us here who are living in the United States, man, that is something great that God has done for you.

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No nation ever has been like it. No lifestyle has ever compared to what we enjoy here in the United States. God has done great things for you. So Mary recognizes, He who is mighty has done great things for me. This is so amazing. He who is mighty, the one who is mighty, listen, the creator of the universe, God Almighty has paid attention to me, Mary says.

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He's done great things for me. It's a very personal thing she's sharing. That God is big and He's mighty and He's powerful. But he saw Mary and he said, I want to do great things for her. Not because she's so wonderful. Remember, just go back to the previous verse. She's lowly. Not that she deserves it. Not that she earned it. She recognized her weakness. And God says, ooh, I like that. I want to do great things for you.

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In the same way, for those of us today who believe God, blessed are you because, well, God does great things for you. As you recognize who you are and your condition, as you look to God to satisfy you and to meet your need, the Almighty God, He who is mighty, the Creator of the universe, He sees you. He knows you. He knows your need. He sees what's going on and He says, I want to do great things for you.

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Because you've believed me at my word. You've responded. You've paid attention to what I'm saying. God has done great things for you. And holy is His name. Holy means, of course, to be set apart. His name is set apart. He is nothing like anything we've ever known. He does not compare to Santa Claus or to a judge or to a father. There's some things that we can learn about God from those terms that are used like father, father,

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But at the same time, He's holy. See, everything we know is tainted by the sinful condition. But God is completely set apart from sin. He's far greater, far better than we can fully know or understand. And He notices you. And He notices me. And He has done great things for me. Number three, we learn about God in verse 50, that God's mercy is on those who fear Him.

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Verse 50 says, And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation. God has mercy on those who fear Him. This word mercy, we often describe it as mercy is not getting the punishment that you deserve. Grace, on the other hand, is getting good things that you don't deserve. It's blessings that you don't deserve. Mercy is the withholding of what you do deserve. That is the judgment, the punishment.

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As a result of your sinful condition and your sinful action. Mercy also has on it though this idea of compassion. It's compassion over the misery of sin or the condition of sinfulness. It's compassion upon those who are experiencing the consequences of sin. And that's a beautiful picture of God to understand that He is merciful. That He looks at us and He sees our sinful condition and He has compassion.

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He says, oh man, that is so tough. Look at what they have to deal with. Look at what they're going through. Man, I want to help them. He has compassion upon us in our sinful condition. Mary needed God's mercy because she...

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Well, she was in her lowly state. She was in a sinful condition just like you and I. You and I today need God's mercy. We deserve God's judgment because of our sin. But those who believe God are blessed. They're fully satisfied because those who believe God, He looks down upon us and He has mercy upon us. He has mercy, it says, on those who fear Him. This word fear means

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is the idea of awe or reverence, but also of terror. And sometimes we kind of try to downplay, well, fear God, you know, it doesn't mean that you have to be afraid of God. Well, that is part of what this is talking about. That there is a fear. There's a terror.

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Yes, we reverence God. We are in awe of God because He's great. He is almighty and we are created beings. And so there's appropriate place there for reverence and awe. But there's also terror. There's also fear because, well, we will stand before God. He's the one we have to give an account to. It's like you respect your parents, or you're supposed to anyways, right, when you're a kid.

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You reverence, there's a certain amount of reverence that is due to your parents and you're supposed to give that. But there's also a little bit of fear because if you disobey, if you disregard, then there will be consequences, there will be punishment. In the same way, we are to fear God. To have an awe and reverence for who God is and He's awesome, but also to be afraid because we know He's the one that we have to please.

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Maybe you could think about it this way. Do you care what God thinks? Do you care what God thinks? Do you pay attention to what God says? You see, to fear God is to care about what He thinks and what He says. Now, of course, if we ask the question, we will answer, oh yeah, I do care what God thinks. But the real question that I'm asking is, does your life demonstrate that you care what God thinks?

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Does your life demonstrate that? Because as you make decisions, as you take actions, you're considering what does God think about this situation? And you're responding according to what God thinks and what God says rather than what you think and you say or what Uncle Joe says and what he thinks or whoever else you might turn to. That you're concerned about, that you're paying attention to pleasing God. That's what it means to fear God. It says His mercy is on those who fear Him.

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His mercy is on those who fear Him. Jesus tells us in John chapter 5, verse 22 and 23, that judgment has been delivered to Him. He says that He's going to be the one who brings judgment. And He explains why in verse 23 of John 5. He says that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. That honor, that awe, that reverence of God the Father is to be applied to the Son Himself.

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Because he is the one to whom all judgment has been entrusted. And so we're going to stand before Jesus. We're going to give an account for our lives and what we did and how we lived. And so there needs to be honor towards him. There needs to be fear towards him, knowing that we will stand before him one day. Now understand, God does not expect perfection from you.

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And that's a mistake we sometimes make. And we make mistakes. We fall short. We fall into sin. And then we run from God because we think, oh, he's mad at us because, you know, I blew it. I messed up. He's mad at me. He doesn't want to see me. He doesn't want anything to do with me. He doesn't want to bless me or work in my life. But that's just the enemy playing mind games with us.

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You see, we're really surprised. Oh, I can't believe I messed up. God says, I knew you were going to do that already. That's why Jesus died. It's already paid for. You don't have to run from God because you messed up. That's why he came. That's why he's reaching out to us. He has mercy on those who fear him. Listen, care about what he thinks. Seek to please him. Fear him. And he will show you mercy.

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He will not deal with us according to our sin. He knows you're not perfect. That's no surprise to Him. And in fact, He's going to take care of that part. He's going to bring you to perfection. To bring you to completion. To conform you into the image of His Son. That's what God does. God doesn't ask perfection from us. He asks us to fear Him. To care about what He says. To seek to please Him. Live your life to please God.

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And the result will be, you will be fully satisfied. You will be blessed. Blessed are they who believe. Blessed are they who fear God. Because God will show you mercy. And notice it says, from generation to generation. This is how God has always been. And this is how He will always be. Merciful towards those who fear Him.

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Well, number four, we find in verse 51 and 52 that God exalts the lowly. Verse 51 says, He has shown strength with His arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. God exalts the lowly, we see here. He doesn't just regard the lowly. We saw that a couple of verses earlier, but He also exalts them or lifts them up.

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It's the lowly who get lifted up, but the proud, those who are already lifted up, they get knocked down. This is how God works. This is how God relates to us. If we come to Him lifted up, puffed up, if we come to Him in our strength, we get knocked down. But if we come to Him in our lowliness, in our sinful condition, acknowledging the reality of who we are, we get lifted up, exalted, exalted.

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God exalts the lowly, but knocks down the proud. Mary declares that he has shown strength with his arm. God is strong. Of course he's strong because he is almighty. He is all powerful. He is strong. Maybe you should consider this question. Are you stronger than God? Are you stronger than God? Could you overcome him?

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Can you defeat his work? Can you defeat his purposes? Listen, if you're not stronger than God, then there's no place for pride because God will knock down the proud. There's no place for pride. Now, if you could withstand God or defeat God, well, then you can have all the pride you want. Go for it. It's all yours. But are you stronger than God? Because if you're not stronger than God and you're lifting yourself up and puffing yourself up and

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Thinking of yourself so highly, if you are so full of yourself, then when you stand before God, you're going to be surprised to find out He's stronger than you. He's mightier than you. He's God and you're not. Are you stronger than God? You see, God has declared who you are. And He has declared what you need. You need a Savior. You need to recognize your sinful condition. You need to recognize who you are.

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He's declared what He has done for you. Our job is not to come in some, you know, strength to God, but to come in acceptance, recognizing who we are and that we need Him. When we come to Him in lowliness, He lifts us up. Oh, we want to come to God in strength, don't we? Even as Christians. Now, for those who've not given their lives to the Lord...

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There's always that desire to come and be religious and, you know, try to show God how good we are. But that doesn't work. We need to acknowledge that we need a Savior. We need to look to Jesus Christ for forgiveness of our sins. But also as Christians, sometimes we forget where we started and what salvation is all about. And we come to God with our strengths. Or we try to fix our problems so that we can come to God. You ever experienced that?

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Oh man, I really blew it. Okay, let me do a couple weeks of good deeds and then I can come back and ask God for this thing that I need. We try to fix our lives and try to patch up our lives and oh, look at how disciplined I'm being, God. So now can you bless me? Listen, God has shown strength with His arm. He scatters the proud and the imagination of their hearts. He knocks down those who are doing it themselves, those who can handle it themselves.

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Instead, He calls us to come to Him in lowliness. And then He will exalt us and He'll build us up. We don't have to pretend to be something we're not. We can come to Him in our weakness and then He'll make us into something that we never were. He'll build us up. He'll exalt us. He'll lift us up. It says He's scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. I like that. Because the proud have such wild imaginations. They imagine that they do not have to answer to God. And so they live their life in this fantasy.

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Like, I can just do whatever I want. I don't have to give an account for it. It doesn't matter. They imagine that God doesn't exist. They imagine that all creation began by chance. They imagine that they can get away with sin. The proud have such wild imaginations. We've got to watch out for that. We begin to live in a fantasy world when we forget our lowly state. God has even put down the mighty from their thrones.

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So whether it's physical strength, emotional strength, political strength, God's not threatened by it. He puts it down. No president, no king, no world leader is stronger than God. No one can thwart God's plans. He puts down the proud, the strong, those who are full of themselves, and then he exalts the lowly. Again, this is the idea of this humility, recognizing who we are. Before Christ, we are lowly when we recognize the sinfulness of

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Of our nature. The sinfulness which is our condition. And even today as believers. We have that same condition. We need to come to him in lowliness. You remember what Paul said in Romans chapter 7 verse 24. He says. Oh wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me from this body of death. That's lowliness. Paul is recognizing. I need help. And I'm stuck in this body. And I struggle with sin. I'm a wretched man. Who can deliver me? And then the very next verse says.

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He says, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. He came to God in lowliness and God exalted him. God met the need. That's what God does. He exalts the lowly. God doesn't ask you to be strong. He asks you to acknowledge your weakness and then his strength can be made perfect. Those who recognize their need for God, listen, you will be fully satisfied. Blessed are they who believe.

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If you believe what God says about who you are and your condition, you will be fully satisfied. You will be blessed. Number five, verse 53, God fills the hungry. Verse 53 says, He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich He has sent away empty. He's filled the hungry. I think you could look at this in a physical way, but also in a spiritual way.

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God meets both physical and spiritual needs. David declares in Psalm 37, he says, I've been young and I've been old, yet I've not seen the righteous forsaken nor his descendants begging bread. Remember Jesus taught us in Matthew chapter 6, hey, don't worry. God knows what you need. Look at the birds, look at the grass, look how they're fed, look how they're clothed, they're taken care of. He says, seek first the kingdom of God.

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And all these things, these worldly things, these things that you need, the food, the clothing, those things will be added to you. They'll be taken care of. God will take care of those things. He'll provide those necessities. But your responsibility is to seek first the kingdom of God. God fills the hungry with good things. But notice, the rich He sent away empty. So those who come with their own resources and say, I got it, God. Don't worry about it. I can handle it.

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I can feed myself. Those, God says, that's what you think, He sends them away empty. He fills the hungry. He sends away the rich with emptiness. Once again, we see that when we come to God, it's not about what we can provide or what we have. It's we come to Him in our need. He meets our need. God fills the hungry.

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Now we also see this not just physically but spiritually. As Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Those who hunger for righteousness, those who hunger to do God's will, to do the work of God, to be right before God, they will be filled. Those who come to God rich,

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Like we read about in the book of Revelation, remember? The church that came to God and their own estimation of themselves is, man, we're wealthy and we don't need anything. God says, you don't realize that you're miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Again, our perception doesn't always match reality. Who are we? The Bible describes us in a lowly state, a lowly condition.

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We come to God not in our wealth, not in what we have to offer, not in our good works or good deeds. We come to God in our hunger, saying, Lord, I need to be filled. Lord, I need to be righteous. I'm not righteous. I need to be clothed in your righteousness. Now understand, God doesn't give us everything that we want, but he does give us everything that we need. And of course, our schedule changes.

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is not always the same as God's. And so we think, well, I need this. And God says, yeah, you do, but you don't need it at this moment. I'll give it to you at the right time. We need to come to him in our hunger because then he will fill us. But if we come to him in our wealth, what we have, what we can offer, those who think that they have it all or that they can provide for themselves, that's when we get sent away empty. If you think that you do not need God, you will live your life in emptiness.

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But listen, those who come to God with their hunger, they'll be fully satisfied. They'll be blessed. Why? Blessed are they who believe. Well, finally, number six, found in verse 54, he has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy. And 55, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever. She says, he has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy.

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He's helped. I really like this idea that's provided here in the word helped because it literally means to mutually take hold of one another with the hand. You can kind of think of that old-fashioned handshake like this, right? Where you're holding one side, they're holding the other side, you're both holding on. That's kind of the idea here of this word helped.

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If you're hanging off a cliff and someone's holding on to you, you want them holding on with a firm grip, but you're also holding on to them. You're holding on to one another. That is our condition. God helps His servants. That's really our condition. We're there on the cliff. At any moment, we're toast. We're about to fall. We're dead. We're nothing. But God's holding on to us and we're holding on to Him. He helps His servants.

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He grasps hold of us as we grasp hold of Him. This is good to know. Because in this life, very often, we are hanging off a cliff. We're right on the edge. Right on the edge of calling it quits. Right on the edge of walking away from the Lord. Right on the edge of this physical life. We're right on the edge. We're pushed to the limit. And God helps His servants in that condition. He grasps hold of us.

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as we grasp hold of Him. God's right here with you. He sees your need. And notice, He personally involves Himself. He's reaching out. He's grasping hold of you. Some people in the body here are going through some incredibly bad things, some real hard things. There's a lot of people there in Japan who are going through things that we really would have a difficult time picturing or imagining, understanding.

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Life is tough. Life is hard. There's some really awful things that we have to endure. But all through the way, God's holding on to us. He helps His servants. He gets us through. He carries us through. He helps us endure. He helps us overcome. He helps us persevere. He's right here with us. And notice it says there in verse 55, As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever. As He spoke. He helps us.

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Just as he said he would. Just as he promised. He is faithful to his word. He promised his people that he would bring a savior through the line of David. Mary says, he's doing it right now. He's helping us. He's holding on to us. He's being faithful to his word. That's what God does to you and I as well. As he spoke, as he has promised, that is what he will do. God helps us. He's with us. He's not abandoned us.

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Well, finally, verse 56 says, and Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her house. So she stays there with Elizabeth for about three months. Now, Elizabeth was already six months along when Mary came. So it's possible she stayed with Elizabeth until John the Baptist was born. And then she went home or she went home right before the birth. Either way is possible. But she stays there and she's given this incredible praise. And it

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brings us as we finish up our time together this morning to once again ask the question, am I fully satisfied? Because those who believe are blessed. Again, that word blessed is the idea of being fully satisfied. Are you fully satisfied? As we look at what Mary declares here in her praise, notice how much God does for us.

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What's required of us? There is stuff that's required of us. There is a responsibility that we have, but it's quite often the opposite of what we think. Our responsibility is to acknowledge our need and to come to God in our sinful condition, to come to God in our weakness, to believe God at His word and come. That's our responsibility. But when we come, God regards the lowly,

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He does great things for us. He has mercy on us as we fear Him. He exalts the lowly. He fills the hungry. And He helps His servants. He's with us. He takes care of us. He provides for us. He meets our needs. God does it all. We come to Him in our weakness and He does the rest. That's the relationship with God that is offered to us. And so as we consider this incredible praise and worship of Mary, we're recognizing, we're realizing that

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How much God wants to do. Are you experiencing it? Are you receiving it? Are you fully satisfied? Listen, the person who's experiencing what Mary is describing here is fully satisfied with God regarding and doing great things and showing mercy and exalting and filling and helping. That's a person who's fully satisfied. Are you fully satisfied? Those who believe God...

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will be in this condition. Not that life won't be tough, not that there won't be difficulties, but that in our weakness, He will be made strong. And throughout it all, God will be involved, carrying us along, pouring Himself into our lives. This is an amazing God we serve. And He requires not our strength, but our honest recognition of who we are and how much we need Him. Let's pray.

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God, we do lift up our hearts to you this morning. Lord, our hearts which are so full of pride and so prone to wander, so quick to trust in ourselves and think that we can satisfy ourselves with this or with that or that we know what we need or we know how to handle this situation. God, I pray that you would open our eyes. Lord, that we would see reality, not our fantasy that we like to live in. Lord, the reality is that we need you desperately.

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And so, God, we come to you. We look to you. God, I pray that you would meet our needs, that you would do great things, that you would lift us up, that you would fill our lives with more of you. Lord, that you would be glorified because you are the one who is high and lifted up. You are the one who is exalted. You are the King of kings and Lord of lords. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

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