The Response of Faith

If God’s people would take their
Bibles and turn to the Gospel of Luke. Luke chapter 1. I don’t know about you, but for me this
has already been a good thing. To begin to focus on the Christ
of Christmas. the Christmas story, specifically
on the birth accounts, plural. Not only Christ’s birth account,
but as we’ve already begun to peek at John’s birth account
as well. John the Baptist, the forerunner
of the Messiah. One of the sadder features of
the Christmas story, the Gospel’s narrative of the birth accounts,
is the mistreatment that Mary herself receives. The Roman Catholic
Church has not only mishandled and misinterpreted the passages
related to Mary in the Birth of Jesus, but it has also embellished
and mischaracterized her as well. The Catholic Church has taken
biblical passages Each with a God-purpose lesson of his own, as I pray
we will see today. And they have so distorted the
image of Mary that the picture of her that remains, the picture
that is painted, resembles nothing of the sweet and simple woman
presented there. Catholicism has invented, out
of nothing more than human creativity and a thin veneer of legend,
a fictitious goddess-like person that commands reverence that
is due only to God himself. As a result, evangelicals, Protestants,
if you will, especially former Catholics, tend to steer clear
from even mentioning the name of Mary, let alone granting her
admiration for her godly example. But such example is there for
us in the pages of Scripture, and rather than an overreaction
that leaves us and leaves our own consideration of Mary incomplete
and inaccurate, we would take a fresh look and her calling
and her example, and if we do so objectively, I believe that
we’ll find a more favorable perspective of the birth mother of our Lord
Jesus Christ. We’ve considered these passages
before, but it’s been, surprisingly, more than 11 years since we looked
at these particular verses. When we studied these verses
back then, we focused more on the character of the Savior himself,
on the character and the nature of Christ, especially verses
31-33. And we’ll make a quick review
of those, but I want to circle back. I want to circle back as
we take a closer look at Mary. If you’re in chapter 1, pick
up with me and read along as we read verses 26-38. Now in the sixth month, the angel
Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, a descendant
of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her,
Hey, old favored one, the Lord is with you. But she was greatly
troubled at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of sanitation
this might be. The angel said to her, Do not
be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold,
you will conceive in your womb, and bear a son, and you shall
call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be
called Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him
the throne of his father David. He will reign over the house
of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. And Mary said
to the angel, How can this be, since I am a virgin? And the
angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon
you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, and
for that reason the Holy Ostrich shall be called the Son of God.
Behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her
old age, and she who was called Baron is now in her sixth month,
for nothing will be impossible with God. And Mary said, Behold,
the bondslave of the Lord, be it done according to your word,
and the angels Years ago we did a series that
included this particular verse. There are four, if you will,
songs of Christmas, titled that way for centuries. Four praises
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We’ve already looked at Zacharias. Here we see Gabriel’s in verse
31 and following. Mary’s is yet to come. We’ll
take that up next Lord’s Day. And then the angels doxology
in chapter 2 verse 14 of Luke’s gospel. We studied in time past
just based on that element, the glory element, the doxological
element of them. But here, Gabriel specifically
zeroes in on the grandeur of this coming king. And if you
look at verses 31, as I promised, we’re just going to do a quick
review of these particular verses. The angel first and foremost
tells her that she’s going to bear a son. And she’s going to
name him Jesus. Now she will communicate this
identical thing, rather the angel will communicate this identical
thing. We have no record that Mary ever
shared this with Joseph. It’s kind of a fascinating thing
in the Gospels that Mary essentially waits for the angels to straighten
things out with Joseph. No doubt this would have been
a difficult message for her to bring to Joseph. And perhaps
just the fact that he may have struggled with that notice, she
left him to God himself. But she essentially is told that
the name of the child is going to be Jesus, and Joseph is told
the exact same thing. Naming the child, as we have
already seen, was the legal right of the father. Luke records that
Mary was the one instructed, but not necessarily was she going
to be the one to verbalize it. The angel is just telling her
what the Christ child is going to be named. In Matthew’s Gospel,
Joseph was similarly addressed, as I’ve already mentioned. That
passage, very short, reads like this. Now the birth of Jesus
was as follows. When his mother Mary had been
betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found
to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And obviously Mary doesn’t
share this with him, because he greatly upset Joseph. Joseph, her husband, being a
righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, desired to put
her away secretly, to essentially divorce her, beginning those
proceedings. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel
of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son
of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for that
which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she
will bear a son, and you will call his name Jesus. For he will
save his people from their sins.” It’s a very simple, straightforward
announcement. And that name, that title, which
the angel gives as coming, we believe, from God himself. God
is the one that essentially named his son. That name is the Greek
equivalent of Joshua, or God is our help, God is our savior. So the name Jesus proclaims Christ’s
mission from the very first moment. Mary knows from the very first
moment that she will bear the Messiah himself, the savior that
had been long awaited already. It’s a fascinating scene. And
we’ll come back and look at Mary’s reaction. But first and foremost,
she knows that the Savior is coming. She knows that she has
been tasked with bearing the Messiah. We’ll call His name Jesus, for
He will save. In other words, Jesus, He is
to be called Jesus because that would be a clear and constant
declaration that his mission, the purpose of Jesus Christ,
was to save. That’s, as J.C. Ryle said, his special office.
He saves people from the guilt of sin by washing them in his
atoning blood. He saves them from the dominion
of sin by putting in their hearts the sanctifying spirit. He saves
them from the presence of sin when he takes them out of this
world to rest with Him, Jesus as Savior. And from the very
first moment that is declared to Mary, and even the way the
form that this is written, it is He. It is He and no other. It is He with no one else’s help. It is He and He alone who will
bear the penalty and pay the price. and secure the salvation
of his people. Unless there be any. That up
to this point, perhaps, like so many of the Jewish nations
did, have this complete misunderstanding of the mission of the Messiah.
As being some kind of political liberator. It says with great
clarity, It is He who will save His people from their sins. One excellent commentator characterized
it in these great, great terms. While some trust in chariots
and some in horses, and the strange thing is that many Jews actually
longed for that kind of a political liberty. that kind of a leader
that would come and liberate them from the bondage in which
they found themselves. While some trust in chariots
and some in horses, in physical strength, knowledge, reputation,
prestige, position, magnificent and impressive machinery, that’s
our shortcoming, influential friends, intrepid generals, none
of these, whether operating singly or in conjunction with all the
others, is able to deliver man from his chief enemy, the foe
that is little by little destroying his very heart, namely sin. Or as here, sins, those of thought,
word, deed, of omission, commission, inner disposition, all of those
ways in which man misses the mark of God’s glory. It takes
no less than the atoning death of Jesus Christ and the sanctifying
power of His Spirit to cleanse hearts and lives.” What an excellent
statement. What a great statement. Jesus
Christ came to save sinners. And from the very first moment
that He’s introduced, the idea is introduced that Mary herself
is going to carry and bear the Messiah. She now knows explicitly
what His mission is. that he’s going to be a Savior,
and not just anybody’s Savior, and not just in general, but
first and foremost, he is her Savior. We’ll come back to that
thought in a moment, as you begin to digest it. Gabriel continues
with this profound announcement. Look at verse 32. He will be
great. He will be called Son of the
Most High, and the Lord God will give him his the throne of his
father David. He will reign over the house
of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. And as I pointed out last time,
eleven years ago, herein, Gabriel declares five glories of the
ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, and these will review, as I said,
very briefly. First of all, Jesus Christ is
glorious. in that He is in every way superior. Look at verse 32, He will be
great. Now, when we read that in our
modern year, He will be great. We overuse that word, just like
we overuse the word awesome, which should only be reserved
for God, describing God and His ways and works. Jesus will be
great. Great in every way. He will be
great in His holiness. He will be great in greatness.
He will be great in judgment. He will be great in mercy. He
will be great in power and influence. He will be great as the Son. Over and over, the Scriptures
declare of Christ that He is the Messiah. Micah 5.4, he will
arise and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord and
the majesty in the name of the Lord his God. 2 Samuel 7.12,
in your days of completing, you lie down with your fathers, I
will raise up a descendant after you who will come forth from
you. I will establish his kingdom, ultimately speaking of Christ.
The greatness of Christ is only now. Two thousand years in, we
certainly saw it at the cross, his willingness to go and to
take our sin and to die on the cross, a real cross, and die
a real death, a painful, terrible death. But not only was his life
great, not only was his ministry great, not only was his sacrifice
on the cross great, his resurrection was great, his Ministry, even
now to this moment, is great. One pastor said he will be great
in his person, as God meant. He will be great in his offices,
in his prophetic office. He will be great in his priestly
office, being a great high priest, both in the sacrifice of himself
and in his constant intercession. And he will be great in his kingly
office, being king of kings and lord of lords, in the whole of
his office as mediator, being great savior, the author of a
great salvation for great sinners. Jesus Christ is first and foremost
great. He’s great in his nature. He’s
great in his character. He’s great in his miracles. He’s
great in his work of redemption. He’s great in his authority.
Jesus Christ is great. He is in every way superior.
Secondly, I told you we were going to move through these quickly.
Considering the five glories of the ministry of the Lord Jesus
Christ as announced here by Gabriel, he is in every way superior,
number one. Secondly, Doug, his lineage is
perfect. He is a direct descendant we
already saw in looking at his family tree, but here the angel
simplifies it He will be called the Son of the Most High. There is no one in all of the
world, in all of history, that can ever make that claim. And Jesus was the Savior of the
world. Jesus was the Son of the Most
High before He ever came into the world. Philippians laid it
out. took on flesh. He stepped away
from the throne to take on human flesh. He was there, equal to
the Father in every way. Equal in not only dignity, but
equal in character. So that Jesus could say, if you’ve
seen me, you’ve seen the Father. Christ. Christ has been promised
to the Fathers, to Abraham, to his seed. He had promised to
Moses, he had promised to David that the King who was coming,
that this title, above all others, tells about who he really is.
It tells about his nature, that he would be called the son of
the Most High. As one described it in the revelation
of himself, God has made himself a name. He has revealed himself
as almighty judge and deliverer, as the God of salvation, who
rules over everything that takes place here below. It is this
name which has made his acts. It is not the attributive name
of God, but an attributive name of God that he is most high. What is stressing here is that
Jesus Christ is not only enthroned in majesty, He is enthroned with
sovereignty. Jesus Christ is Lord over all. He will be called Son of the
Most High. This isn’t a created position,
like angels and men. He isn’t adopted into the role
like some, but rather this is His by nature. He is the eternal
Son of God, and He has the same exact, identical nature as God
Himself. Thirdly, not only is He in every
way superior, His lineage is perfect. His throne is the fulfillment
of a promise, and we have reviewed this and seen it already twice.
We’re not going to spend any time on it. Look at the passage,
the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. Now
David was not his literal father, but it communicates that we’ve
already seen that lineage. You trace him up, he is the great
descendant, the son if you will, of David. He is the one who is exalted
over all and God is going to give him the throne of his father
David just as promised. The throne speaks here just like
he has already indicated that Jesus Christ is going to have
sovereign dominion over all. Paul in writing to the Ephesians
says that there was that mighty display of power, where God highly
exalted Christ and seated Him at a throne and placed everything
beneath His feet. Everything is subject to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Fourthly, considering these five glories
of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, He is in every way superior. His lineage is perfect. His throne
is the fulfillment of a promise. And fourthly, all encompassing. When it says that in verse 33,
he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, he’s not in any way limiting
that. If anything, he is expanding
it beyond all measures. It’s all encompassing. It’s not
an earthly or a political kingdom at all that is in view here.
Instead, it’s the kingdom where truth is established, where the
grace of God is established and flows from God’s own throne into
the hearts and the lives of God’s people. Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is
the one who will exercise that dominion. Repeatedly throughout the Old
Testament those promises were given. That a nation would come
and destroy them and that they would be servants in a strange
land. Then the Messiah would come and
that he would rule over Jacob. Jesus Christ has come
for that purpose. Fifthly and finally, 5th glory
of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, contained in those little
verses, not only is He in every way superior, His lineage is
perfect, His throne is the fulfillment of the promise, His reign is
perpetual, His kingdom is everlasting. Jesus Christ will never be deprived. Verse 33, it just says it so
simply, His kingdom will have no end. One Puritan said it this way,
as we begin to transition our way. Before His glorious kingdom,
the empires of the world shall one day pass away, like Nineveh,
Babylon, Egypt, Tyre. They shall come to nothing one
day, and the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom.
His kingdom alone shall prove an everlasting kingdom and its
dominion, that which shall not pass away. Jesus Christ is enthroned,
never to be unseated. Jesus Christ and His sovereign
rule will rule not just until you and I pass in this earthly
life, but He will rule for the rest of eternity. What a glorious,
glorious principle. And we sing it from time to time,
don’t we? When we’ve been there, there
10,000 years bright, shining as the sun. With no less days
to sing God’s praise than when we first begun. We too, we will
witness His eternal rule. Forever. What an absolutely astounding
thing. But I want to take you back.
I want to take you back and look We’ve looked at this passage
in the greatness and the glory of Christ. And the message in
its fullness is there if you want it. But I want to go back
this morning and reconsider Mary. But in order to do that, I want
to give you the backdrop. I want to give you the backdrop
of the brutality, really, of the Catholic Church and their
treatment of Mary. Because I think in their goal
of embellishing her and attributing to her things that are not true.
They miss the true virtue of Mary. They miss the true blessing
that Mary would give to each of us if we’re only careful enough
to look. The scriptures lay it out. They
make it most clear. As I mentioned at the outset
this morning, the Roman Catholic Church paints an extremely distorted
picture of Mary. One characterizes it in these
terms. It is a well-known fact that the Roman Catholic Church
pays an honor to the Virgin Mary hardly inferior to that which
it pays to her blessed son. Do you hear what he says? They
put Mary on par with the Lord Jesus Christ himself. She is formally declared by the
Roman Catholic Church to have been conceived without sin. She
is held up to Roman Catholics as an object of worship, and
prayed to as a mediator between God and man, no less powerful
than Christ himself. For all this, be it remembered,
there is not the slightest warrant in Scripture. And I want to show
you that. The Roman Catholic Church does
this, not only using these very verses, But as I said, they barred
no attempt to craft a caricature of her with the most fantastic
embellishments. Now, the Roman Catholic Church
would have everyone believe that their view of Mary has been the
same from the very beginning. And that’s not the case. Note this. Mary first began to gain an elevated
view in the early 5th century. She wasn’t always viewed in that
capacity. In AD 431 was the first time
that that was formally proposed, ratified in AD 51. It wasn’t until the 7th century,
the early 600s, that prayers began to be directed, or should
we say misdirected, to Mary, and not only to her, but to the
saints as well. In 1508, the now well-known prayer
Ave Maria came into use. As late as 1854, the idea of
Mary’s immaculate conception was declared by Pope Pius IX. We’ll look at that in a moment.
In 1950, Another Pope, Pius XII, declared that Mary rose to heaven
bodily, and referred to that in brief as her Assumption. It wasn’t until 1965 that Pope
Paul VI declared Mary as the Mother of the Church. Briefly,
let’s consider a few of these Roman Catholic ideas about Mary,
and we’re doing so so that when you look at these passages, The
real nature and character of Mary should jump off the page,
Alice. Incidentally, I’ve mentioned
it before, I’m indebted here to Lorraine Gettner’s excellent
work simply titled Roman Catholicism. First of all, consider her title,
the Mother of God. There was no hint of this use
ever at all by anyone until at least the fifth century. And
as I mentioned, the phrase first found its way in to the council
at Ephesus, and it created such a stir that they wrestled with
it and ratified it in 451, 20 years later. The term initially
didn’t seem to communicate the high and lofty office that that
Mary had been bestowed as the mother of God, but when you now
look at it in the modern day consideration and use of the
term, we see exactly how that term was twisted and used. Fetner
says, the term today is used to exalt Mary to a supernatural
status as Queen of Heaven, Queen of the Angels, so that because
of her assumed position of prominence in heaven, she is able to approach
her son effectively and to secure for her followers whatever favors
they ask of her. Now you remember the water turned
to wine, right? That’s the image that they have. Mary, don’t talk
to him. That’s essentially what they’re
suggesting. And it’s been a long developing
course. of the use of that particular
phrase and term. The Bible refers to her as the
mother of Jesus. But when you begin to describe
her as the mother of God, now the purpose that the Roman Catholic
Church has in that begins to unfold. And the purpose is the
worship of Mary. It’s worship. is giving to Mary,
giving to an other, what is due only to God. Jesus Christ accepted
worship. That’s recorded in the pages
of Scripture, and that was one of the identifiers that positioned
Him and declared Him as being divine. Jesus Christ is not only
man, He is God. Such worship was never given
to Mary, ever. Not recorded in Scripture. Bettner says, of all those titles
that are just reviewed, they’re false. He goes on to say, the
only references in Scripture to prayers, pardon me, to, pardon
me, the only references in Scripture to prayers to the Queen of Heaven
are found in Jeremiah 7, where it is severely condemned as a
heathen custom practiced by some apostate Jews. The so-called
Queen of Heaven was a Canaanite goddess of fertility. So there’s nothing in Scripture
at all, nothing in Scripture to indicate that any departed
human being, and that includes people or relatives, that any
departed human being, however good, has any further contact
with the affairs on this earth. I don’t know if there’s a pinhole
in the floor of heaven where they’re allowed to appear on
occasion. I don’t know. But I know this, that we don’t
pray to them, and they can’t help us. Nowhere in Scripture is there
any evidence that prayer should ever be offered to anyone but
God. It’s the Holy Spirit that adds
to our worries. It’s the Holy Spirit that essentially
helps our prayer. It’s the Lord Jesus Himself who
mediates to God the Father on our behalf, not Mary. Never. Mary is a created being, and
greatly blessed, as we’ll see in a moment. But she is in no way equal to
God. She is in no way divine, in no
way deserving of our worship? No. Consider the idea of the
Immaculate Conception. What that points to is that Mary
was conceived and this is what they’ve got to do. They have
to build this construct in order to maintain their practices. What this idea
of the Immaculate Conception teaches is that Mary herself
was born without sin. Making her the first one born
without sin. Because Jesus Christ’s generation
was not like the rest of mankind. Remember Jesus Christ was formed
by the Holy Spirit. And that’s why the sin nature
was not imparted to the Lord Jesus Christ, but what they presume
of Mary is that the same thing happened to her without even
a verse of evidence. And that this idea, from the
moment she began to walk the earth, she was free from sin. miraculous infusion of God’s
grace, she was able to maintain that wall her entire life, until
which time the angel burst into her room and declared her as
the would-be carrier of the Messiah himself. Don’t take my words for it. This
is the Roman Catholic’s own teaching on the subject. Pope Pius, December
8, 1854, we declare, pronounce, and define that the most blessed
Virgin Mary at the first instant of her conception was preserved
immaculate from all stain of original sin by the singular
grace and privilege of the omnipotent God, in virtue of the merits
of Jesus Christ, the Savior of mankind, and that this doctrine
was revealed by God, and therefore must be believed firmly and constantly
by all the faithful.” In other words, you can talk to a Catholic
friend, and they can say, I don’t believe that. That was years
ago. If they don’t believe this, they’re not Catholic. That’s
not my judgment. That’s his. And whatever the
Pope says, When he’s ex cathedra, that is on par with scripture. Right? Mary’s assumption. Let me clarify,
just because we use that word quite differently. Mary isn’t
assuming anything. This is not Mary’s idea. This is the Roman Catholic’s
assumption of her assumption. In the latest edition, Roman
Catholics believe, and it was pronounced by Pope
Pius XII on this particular occasion in November of 1950, that Mary’s
body was raised from the grave shortly after she died. Does
this sound familiar? It’s an echo of what happened
to Christ. And they’re bestowing upon her what was, to this point,
a unique miracle of God, the resurrection. Mary’s body was raised from the
grave shortly after she died, that her body and soul were reunited,
and that she was taken up and enthroned as the Queen of Heaven. Unless you think that’s optional.
It’s not optional. This is what Pope Pius XII said,
anyone who may henceforth doubt or deny this doctrine is utterly
fallen away from the divine and Catholic faith. And then they go on to describe,
through nothing more than legend, really creativity, how this happened. On the third day after Mary’s
death, when the apostles gathered around her tomb, they found it
empty. The sacred body had been carried up to the celestial paradise.
Jesus himself came to conduct her hither. The whole court of
heaven came to welcome the songs of triumph, the mother of the
divine Lord. What a chorus of exultation! Hark how they cry, lift up your
gates, O ye princes, And be ye lifted up, O Eternal Beasts,
the Queen of Glory shall enter in. And with that, it’s only the beginning
of obscuring the pure and simple woman that God records in the
pages of Scripture. And so here’s a fresh approach.
Let’s consider for a moment what the Bible says about Mary. Look at verse 26. And what I
would entitle this, this is the response of faith by a graced
sinner. And I don’t mean that disparaging
to Mary at all. Every single person ever born
on the face of the earth is a sinner. There is no evidence at all to
suggest that Mary dodged that Now in the sixth month, the angel
Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth
to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph of the
descendants of David. Let’s just deal with this quite
quickly. They were engaged. The engagement would have taken
essentially the papers of divorcement to break up that It’s not a full marriage yet,
but in order to break up that association, it would have taken
a divorce. That’s what the angel communicates
to Matthew, and Matthew is not his wife. She was a pure woman. She had not yet been with a man. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming in, he, that is the
angel Gabriel, said to her, Hail, favored one, the Lord is with
thee. Now, as I said, this is where
the Roman Catholics begin. And they begin to go astray right
here at this verse. Because they, in their particular
translation, they translate this full of grace. And it’s not an
entirely inaccurate translation unless you intend to manipulate
the truth with it. The word literally means grace
or, if you will, having been graced. You have been graciously
accepted, said Juan, which is a little bit of a stretch. The
Roman Catholic translation, as I mentioned, said Juan, full
of grace does not convey the means to wealth. And moreover,
is liable to shameful perversion. In no way can the word bear the
sense one full of grace to bestow on others. And that’s exactly
how the Catholic Church uses it. That Mary is so full of grace,
so endued with divine character, that she can dispense such. When, as he concludes, the truest
sense is one who has much grace. One who has been made the object
of much grace. God has given her his free and
uncaused grace. He has bestowed, blessed upon
her, this incredible blessing. Would you do me a favor and turn
to Ephesians chapter 1? I want to show you how this word
should be used. Besides, any time I can turn
to Ephesians chapter 1 and recite these truths, I would entitle
this section, verses 3-14, the Song of Praise for Spiritual
Blessings. The Song of Praise for Spiritual Blessings. And
what happens is, as Paul gets going, you know, remember this
is the longest sentence in all of the New Testament. Paul gets
going and he can’t stop. They just keep rolling out. these
blessings that God has given us. Look at verse 3. Blessed,
oh how very blessed is God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly
places in Christ. Just as, and here’s the first
blessing, the blessing of election, divine election. And that’s why
we entitled this series, No Strings Attached. Right? God wasn’t obligated
to do any of this. He’s blessed us with every spiritual
blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us
in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and blameless before Him. Wasn’t anything that motivated
God in our direction? We were chosen in Christ. We
were chosen before the foundation of the world. We were chosen
that we would be holy and blameless, not because of such. Not only
election, but it’s like Paul gets going and he just sees these
glorious blessings that God gives and he can’t stop himself. Not only election, but predestination. Look at verse 5. And you have
to append that little prepositional phrase, in love he predestines
us. It wasn’t because of anything
in us. It was because of God’s love that He predestined us to
adoption of His Son through Jesus Christ to Himself. Why? According
to the kind intention of His will. We’re almost there. I’m
almost going to tell you why I took you here in the first
place. I haven’t lost my mind completely. Verse 6. What is all this for? To the praise of the glory of
His grace. which he freely bestowed on us
in the beloved. He mentions grace, and then he
basically says, he graces us with grace. He freely bestowed it upon us,
just like he did Mary. Mary didn’t deserve any of this.
Mary stood there like you and I would have, with her jaw open,
after the magnanimous blessing of God. which led one to say that Mary
was not the mother of grace, but its daughter. Mary was the
daughter of grace. Mary was the recipient of grace,
not one to bestow grace on anyone. She wouldn’t find her way back
to Luke’s Gospel. So it’s because the Lord is with
her that Mary is said to be endued with grace. She was by God a
uniquely a favored person. God had chosen her. But it wasn’t
because of anything in Mary. It was because God had chosen
to grace her, to bless her. It shows in her responses, there
are three. And it shows that she is human,
not divine. A sinner saved by grace. Can we even begin to conceive
that Mary would carry the Messiah, the Savior of the world, and
not be introduced, not be drawn by God’s grace to salvation?
This, in a sense, is the confirmation of Mary’s salvation. And watch
what happens. Look at the response of faith
by a graced sinner. First of all, awe at the works
and ways of God, especially salvation. Look at verse 29. She was greatly
troubled by this statement. She was awestruck. She was absolutely overwhelmed,
not unlike what happened to you the day that you realized that
Jesus Christ had already paid your penalty, and that all you
had to do is to lay hold of it by faith, and you had salvation
and eternal life, You were awestruck. You thought it was too good to
be true. And from a human standpoint, it is. We don’t deserve it. She was not only troubled by
the angel’s presence, but much more of this astounding news
that God was preparing to richly bless her. And I take from that
that she knew she was no better than most. She was no different in the sense
of her own personal sinfulness. Mary had a human nature like
you and I and this proves it. She was greatly troubled with
this statement. Why me? And she kept pondering what kind
of salutation this must be. And lest you misunderstand where
her heart was, the angel makes it absolutely clear. Do not be
afraid, Mary. Remember what Isaiah thought
when he walked into the presence of God? Woe is me. I am undone. It’s over. And Mary no doubt
had a very similar reaction as with you and I. When it says of Mary that she
was greatly troubled by this statement, it echoes exactly
what you and I, what our sentiment was when we came face to face
with the news of our Savior. It’s penned for all time in the
pages of Hymn to Thee, isn’t it? And can it be that I should
gain An interest in my Savior’s blood? Died He for me, who caused His
pain? For me, who Him to death pursued? Amazing love! How can it be that
Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?” Mary was greatly troubled. And her first response shows
that it’s a response of faith by sin or saved by grace. But
there’s a second response. Look at verse 34. The second
response is a yearning to know and understand the deep things
of God. This is a gift of God. Verse 34, Mary says to the angel,
How can this be, since I am a virgin? She doesn’t doubt. She doesn’t
do what Zachariah did. Mary doesn’t doubt like Zacharias
doubted. Mary just longs to know the deep
things of God, and that is the response of faith. Mary wants
in on the great picture of divine redemption. Mary wants in on
how this is going to be, and you can understand her question.
This is a virtuous, godly version. She doesn’t ask for proof like
Zacharias. She’s aware fully of her own
purity. And what she wants in on, what
she longs for, is to know the deep things of God. Her response
is no different than you and I. As we thumb through the pages
and look for answers to some of the deep questions that life
brings. Mary’s no different than us.
Mary’s no different than you or I. She not only is in awe
of the works and ways of God, especially of salvation, she
has a yearning to know and understand the deep things of God. But there’s a third response
that absolutely seals this question. That Mary’s response was a response
of faith by a great sinner. And that is this humble submission.
to the plans and providence of God. The angel answered her question
graciously. The angel didn’t review her as
he did Zacharias. The angel answered her and said
the Holy Spirit would come upon him. Here’s how it’s going to
happen. You know, it’s possible that
Mary could have walked away and said, okay, I don’t know how
this is going to work. Abraham and Sarah, are you going
to give us a son? Okay. The angel graciously answers
her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you. The power of the Most
High will overshadow you. For that reason, the Holy Offspring
shall be called the Son of God. And behold, even your relative,
Elizabeth, is also conceived at her old age. And she who is
called Baron is now at her sixth month. And it’s an indication
that Elizabeth hadn’t let anybody in on that secret either. And the angel says this for nothing.
Nothing. And Mary essentially says, you’re
right. I know that. And her third response is this
humble submission to the plans and providence of God. And she says this. It’s almost
as if, the picture that you have, the picture that I have, it’s
almost as if she’s yielding up her wrists, almost, as a slave
would. Or a prisoner. Behold, the bond
slave of the Lord. Be it done to me according to
your word. Based on the form of this verb,
be it done, she indicates her willingness to leave the timing
of the fulfillment of this promise entirely up to God’s sovereign
design. Okay. I don’t know when, but this is what God
has planned. This will be done. It’s not a
prayer. It’s not just an expression of
joy, although I believe that’s there. It’s really an expression
of yieldedness. It’s an expression of submission. Mary submits herself completely
to the will of God. That’s what a Christian does. That’s what a child of God does.
That’s what a sinner, when he’s touched with the grace of God,
does. The Gospel comes to us and says
to us, that look, you can have the righteousness of Christ if
you place your faith in His finished work on the cross. Initially,
we’re standing it up. And we say, okay. The work is over. The work has been finished. And
all that is required of me is faith. It’s humble submission. to the
plans and providence of God. J.C. Ryle said it this way, Let
us seek, in our daily, practical Christianity, to exercise the
same blessed spirit of faith which we see here in Mary. Let us be willing to go anywhere,
to do anything, and be anything, whatever be the present and immediate
inconvenience So long as God’s will is clear, the path of duty
is plain. Mary doesn’t have to be
some kind of fantastic goddess with all kinds of powers that
has never spoken anywhere on the pages of scripture. Mary’s
example to us is clear and plain. To her, response is a response
of a grace Let’s humble ourselves before her, God. Our merciful God, we do humble
ourselves in your presence. And Lord, we know of that fall.
We’ve tasted it. And Lord, we know of that astounded
sentiment that we had the first time that we heard the Gospel.
that the grace of God had come and that it had come to us. Lord, we also know, looking into
the deep things of God and longing to know more, we cannot wait
for glory. Okay.