Is there any time of the year that is more joyful than this time of Christmas, of celebration of God's amazing love to us? Our message this morning, as they are during the month of December, taken from these chapters of Luke, chapters one and two, what we call the birth narratives. They were eyewitnesses given the facts that took place as Luke investigated. And I would ask that you turn there in your scriptures. And when we think of Mary and God's electing love, I would ask that we bow before the Lord in prayer. Let's pray together. Our Father, we do thank you for your word and that you have given to us this word. long ago by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And we ask, Lord, you would speak to us even through the words of this one who was an eyewitness, Mary. Give us a sense of who she was and give us a sense of who we are. We give you thanks now in Christ's name for your presence with us. Amen. Certainly, Mary is one that is known everywhere, but what Mary is it? We have that amazing thing that those who speak of her as the sinless, the pure one, they speak of her as the queen of heaven. They speak of her as the co-redeemer of the world. Others speaking of her as the second Eve, the mother of the church. There are two billion Hail Marys said daily, as we have been told. I remember on one of our trips to Mexico City, that city of some 25 million people, to go there and visit what's called the Virgin of Guadalupe, which is a large cathedral there. And they say over 20 million people pass through there to worship her every year. Amazing. But is that the Mary that's found here in God's Word? On the other hand, there are those who ignore the one that's found here in God's Word. So as we would look at this passage, we find not a goddess, but something of God's amazing grace. We have these words of Luke as he begins this and really the things that are given to us in Luke chapters one and two are things that only an eyewitness would be able to tell us. Luke says how he had taken up to put these things together and just as they were handed down to us by those from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, Since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning. It seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you and most most excellent Theophilus, and as he writes this account, he's using those who are eyewitnesses of these things that took place. So we have this amazing thing of the carefulness, which this medical doctor, this physician researched these things. And especially these things, as he, it would seem, got correctly from Mary. Now, it says he carefully, I myself have carefully investigate everything from the beginning. Her response of who she is, I am a servant, a doulos, a doulet. I am a servant of the Lord, a slave, one who belongs to him. And I would, as we look at this passage of scripture, when we come to it, it's fascinating to me. It's really the oldest, the first carol ever written, Christmas carol. Here she is giving us this great Magnificat, this magnifying the Lord. But we often think of Mary, gentle, gentle, sweet, sweet. But when you read through this, it's something that really thunders. We'll read it a little bit later, but it really is something of just as we had read for us earlier, Hannah's song. And it's one of God's mighty power. It's one of bringing down Those who were powerful and great, and it's bringing them low. Much the same here. There is something what we might even call passionate and revolutionary in this song of Mary and her magnifying the Lord. One writer that we appreciate, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who gave, I think, much In understanding how God would bring down the mighty, he writes of this, he says, Mary, who was seized by the power of the Holy Spirit, who humbly and obediently lets the Spirit blow where He wills, she speaks by the power of this Spirit about God coming into the world. So this eyewitness account with this first carol we have Mary and God's electing love. And so I would like for you to just think with me through this element of Mary and who she is and see Mary as this one who shows us something of God's personal love and then how she was chosen with purpose Her very role in redemption is of great importance. She was blessed as among all women. She had this great privilege. And then finally, she was one who was with action. She participated in these things. It wasn't just an observer. So start with me and look at this Mary and God's electing love. God chose her personally. There's something here when we ask the question, who is she? She was certainly what we might speak of as a carpenter's wife. She wasn't someone of great importance, the daughter of a king or queen or something of this nature. There was something lowly about her. And probably we have someone who was 13, 14, 15 years old. She wasn't of great importance in any way as far as the eyes of men. We have, as the scripture speaks of her being betrothed, as it has in some of what I think are not real common words, but She was pledged to be married. And in that culture, that Jewish understanding of being pledged, it was something of being married, but not yet living together. They were not yet together as husband and wife. But in order to change that relationship, there would have to have had a divorce take place. She was pledged, covenanted to Joseph to be his wife. So what we have is this poor working man's wife, unremarkable, lowly. As you read through all of this about Mary, she is unimportant as far as this world is concerned. Born, we might say, on the wrong side of the tracks. Somehow or another, she didn't figure in to the important people of power in the world. She wasn't much. But God chose someone as His instrument who was unexpected, powerless, even to think she gave birth there in a feeding trough. Manger, somehow or another, sounds kind of nice, doesn't it? There's something kind of pleasant in a manger. But when we really look, it was a place where cattle were fed or we might think of the barn where the rough tongues of the animals had rubbed on that wood and all that's involved. If you've been involved with those animals and how they live and are fed and all that's about that, it was a very humble place. And yet God chose her. And I believe it's important to grasp that It was something she was chosen personally. The Scripture tells us that there are trillions of stars. We know that God made all the stars, and it speaks of how He holds them all in place. He has them by name. He has their purpose. But in a more personal way, God chose her personally. There is that element of God's favor and blessing being upon her. I would just note for you a few of the passages that are so deliberately speaking of how those who are chosen by God have their names written in his book of life. We could note from Daniel chapter 12 verses one, two and three. It speaks of God's people, your people, Everyone whose name is found written in the book will be delivered, will shine like the brightness of the heavens. A personal writing of a name in God's book of life is spoken of. Philippians 4 Three, it speaks of those who were fellow workers with the Apostle Paul, and he says, whose names are in the book of life. It's personal names. Again, Hebrews 12, 23, it speaks of the church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven. Again, Revelation 21, 27, It speaks of only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. There's no greater joy. We may think of maybe our children rising to importance, or our important work that we may have had, or whatever those things we might rejoice in, but there's nothing so wonderful that we're to rejoice in. No power so great as Jesus speaking of our names being written in the Book of Life. There's the great joy, personally, to have these names that are written in heaven. That's what Jesus tells us that we're to rejoice over, God's grace. Few truths, I would have to say, in my own life have been more important for me than to know that God in His amazing love has chosen me by His grace, not because of anything found in me as a sinner, Nothing found in me as a Christian. It's pure grace. But I think it's so important for us to realize that it's a love that is personal. It's not just general. It's personal names that are written. It was over 50 years ago, really, when I first read one of the Puritan writers, Thomas Goodwin, in his commentary on Ephesians, where he comments on the words of chapter 2, verse 5, the great love we're with. He loved us. And this old writer, with his kind of archaic language, has these words that meant so much to me in that moment in my own life. He wrote, God pitches. I guess we would call that he puts his love. He pitches his love on persons. Christ died not for propositions, but for persons. He loved us nakedly. He loved us, not ours. It was not for our faith, nor anything in us. Not of works, the Apostle says. No, nor of faith neither. No, He pitches upon persons. He loves you, not yours. Who was Mary? Mary was one that God chose, loved her personally. We have that element that is so wonderful in some of our great hymns, how we realize we have sought the Lord, and then later we come to realize it was the Lord seeking us. He took the initiative. He loved us. Yes, we love Him. Why? because He first loved us. I love that hymn. Isaac Watts, 300 plus years ago, wrote, Why was I made to hear your voice and enter while there's room when thousands make a wretched choice and rather starve than come? T'was the same love that spread the feast, that sweetly drew us in, else we'd still refuse to taste and perished in our sin. Why me? That's the question. It's grace. It's God's love. Not that we have loved God, but that he loved us. We love him because he first loved us. Do you know that love? Have you enjoyed it personally? There is something there for us as Christians that we need constantly to realize in all of our failures, in all of our sins, in all of our stupidity, He loves us. He knows more about us than we know about ourselves. And He loves us personally. What grace! But there's another element so important with Mary. She is above all women blessed. There is a special place. And I think as Protestants sometimes, there's almost been ignoring her on purpose. And yet, the Scripture tells us that she was blessed above all women. And we can say this truly. God chose Mary with purpose. She is this one who sings this first Christmas carol. She knew how to wait for Christmas. I can still remember as a little boy, not sure I ever told my grandmother about this, but I can remember there was a package about this size and about this size, and it had my name on it. And it was under this Christmas tree for at least two weeks before, and the one thing I knew it was, I knew it was a basketball. But finally, they were all gone, and I worked at it, carefully undoing it, And it was a basketball. I remember I took it outside and bounced a little bit and I carefully put it back inside. And I think I can't remember if I acted surprised when I opened it. But there is that element of waiting. She, as no other person, knew what it was to wait for Christmas, to wait for the one that was within her to be born. There is something there as we read of this to wait for the birth of the Christ child. She waits. She waits for Him as His mother. Closer to her than anyone else. She knows God Almighty is within her. Overshadowed her. She's experiencing God's grace. This wasn't her plan, but it was God's purpose in her life that she would be above all women with this great blessing. Think on this a moment with me. How can it be this the greatest of all different miracles that we can think of? The God who made everything that is to the smallest atom, to the galaxies, that would be within this lowly girl. That's beyond any of our understanding. Amazing, miraculous. Is there anything too hard for the Lord? There is God's great power shown in humility. We certainly read of Elizabeth there in the earlier verses in verse 42 and 43, how it speaks of the mother of my Lord. You remember the passage there. And let's read that. At that time, verse 39, we read, At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit In a loud voice she exclaimed, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear. But why am I so favored that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished. Amazing. Mary becomes the mother of our Lord. Now that is really revolutionary. Beyond our understanding, beyond our comprehension, we enter into what we call the mystery of the Incarnation. the one who is the eternal God, the one who was in the beginning with God, who was God, by whom all things were made, was made flesh and dwelt among us. We have this amazing thing that in the person of Jesus Christ, we have perfect Godhead and we have also perfect manhood. We have with that what was mentioned in our Sunday school hour that's going to be taught about next Sunday, what's called the hypostatic union of the two natures of Christ. In one person, there are the two natures, divinity and humanity. Not mixed together, not confused. It's not that he's somewhat God and somewhat man and kind of mixed together, but completely separate, not mixed, not confused. He is completely and totally a human being. And at the same time, that human nature, there is the divinity that is there within him in the same one person, Jesus Christ. There is the great teaching of what we speak of as the Chalcedonian Creed. How perfectly united, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation, Jesus is the one God-man. The Latter-day Saints, our friends that live here in this city, have him is not quite really God. They deny his real true identity. And there is that denial with the Jehovah's Witnesses of that same and how the scriptures bring these two together in one person, Jesus Christ. There is what we often enjoy because we've taught it to the children. The great summary of God's word concerning this teaching from the old Westminster Shorter Catechism. I should probably turn and ask some of the children, or at least the young people would still have it in their memory bank. Who is the Redeemer of God's elect? The only Redeemer of God's elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who being the eternal Son of God, became man and so was and continues to be God and man in two distinct natures and one person forever. Really, truly God. At the same time, man. Amazing. Luther, Martin Luther, had a way of putting things in a almost earthy way and making sure you understood this element of his truly being man. He wrote, he did not flutter about like a spirit. But he dwelt among us. He had eyes, ears, mouth, chest, stomach, hands and feet, just as you and I do. He took Mary's breast. His mother nursed him as any child nursed. He had the same blood as those who are in the great cities of the world of all the different races. He had that same human blood. very God of very God, and yet man. Born of a virgin to fulfill that which God had ordained, she was as His servant. And as the Hebrew Scripture spoke of this fulfillment that would take place, Mary was chosen with purpose to be of all women the most blessed because she had that place in the history of salvation. But look with me. Not only did she give birth to the Savior, but she gives praise. And I want us to read this. If you'd follow along in your scriptures, that's great. But it is Mary's song beginning with verse 46. And here God chooses Mary for participation. She is not just an observer. My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for He has been mindful of the humble state of His servant. From now on, all generations will call me blessed. For the Mighty One has done great things for me. Holy is His name. His mercy extends to those who fear Him from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with His arm. He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things, but He has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant, Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers." So you see, it's really quite a revolutionary carol, quite a revolutionary song. It's not just a lullaby. There's something so very powerful here. The Son of God is born of her and she is blessed of all women in this special way. But notice the action that's here. How God brings down the mighty. How God has this purpose in all these things. And it's not just watching, but as she enters into praise, she sees what God is doing. She sings. Mercy. with joy. She's blessed. And this great miracle, as she would say, let it be to me according to your word, this action. And I would ask the question, what is our role? Christmas is like a little over two weeks away, what is our role at this time of great opportunity that we have as a congregation? Yes, but as individuals, those who know Christ, who have been chosen by Him, those who have been blessed by Him. How are we to be? Are we to be those who sit back and we kind of watch all these things, and yes, that's nice, and yes, I enjoyed that. Kind of like those who would watch the Messiah and listen. They never really enter in and sing. They never really praise. They never get involved in showing the love of Christ. So as we would think of Christmas being something like about 16 days away, We have days to serve and to do things and to take action, to be involved with this. The mighty, they fail when they come to the manger. The mighty, when they come to the cross, they fail. They're afraid of those things. There's humility in both of those places. But there's where God's love is shown. Today, let's clear up something. Few people in this world really have power, and even the power they have is petty power. It's not much. God's power is shown at that manger and at the cross. There is God's power. There is His love. God has chosen the lowly to show us His power. He has not chosen the mighty. He has chosen the humble. God has chosen us. And we have a great privilege to show forth His power and His love. It's not that Mary was the Queen of Heaven, or that she is the pure, spotless, sinless One, or a co-redeemer, but God in His amazing love chose her to show His grace to us. So since we are sinners and since she was a sinner, as she cried out, my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior, we together are to show forth in humility His love to those around us. Do we know who we are? Do we really know who we are or who we think we should be? Who are we? We really are those who have been humbled. We should be humbled before God. And He has been gracious to love us. And His love, He has promised not to forget us. It tells us in Isaiah 49 that our names are engraven upon the palms of His hands. And even though a mother could forget her nursing child, He will not forget us. He has our names engraved upon those palms, and He loves us. There's a popular song that goes, when I lose my way and forget my name, remind me who I am. In the mirror, all I see is who I don't want to be. Remind me who I am. in the loneliest places when I can't remember what grace is, tell me once again who I am to you, who I am to you. Tell me, lest I forget who I am to you, that I belong to you. Maybe it's not so important that we always know who we are, but that we really know who the Lord Jesus Christ is. He is the One who has loved us with an everlasting love, drawn us with loving kindness. Can we remember the Lord Jesus Christ in all of these days that we have? Can we show forth His love to others? These are privileged days. This is the kind of time when people can, yes, you can talk to them about the birth of Christ. You can tell them of the love of God. Invite them. We have a number of these beautifully done invitations. Christmas Eve, Candlelight Service, 530 Cornerstone. Invite others. Give these out. There's a number of them there in Reformation Hall. Opportunities are there. Grab hold of the opportunities. Speak to others of the love of Christ. We're going to sing now this hymn, O Love of God. How strong and true, eternal and yet ever new, uncomprehended and unbought, beyond all knowledge and thought. O love of God, how deep and great, far deeper than man's deepest hate, and I love this, self-fed, self-kindled, like the light, changeless, eternal, infinite. Children may forget us. Parents forget children. Families forget one another. But Jesus Christ will never forget His people, His love to us. And if you've never experienced that love, there is that wonderful invitation to come to Him and know that love that is forever. Nothing can separate us from His love in Christ Jesus. Let's pray together. Father, we do ask that You would give us a spirit of Your love within our hearts, to love You with all of our hearts, mind, soul, with all of our strength, and that we would know what it is to really show that love to others that are all around us. Give us a sense of Your love as we sing of that love. Oh God, we ask that you would touch all of our hearts and minds in such a way that this time of Christmas would not be lost, but that we would speak to others and that we would be actively showing forth your love. Give us those in our lives that we can show the beauty of Christ's love to them. Bless us now we pray in Jesus name. Amen.