We're turning to Luke chapter one again. Luke chapter one, we'll begin our reading at verse 46. We'll just read 10 verses here. Maybe it's 11, 10 verses, 11 verses. Luke chapter one, I'm beginning at the verse 46. Let's hear God's word. And Mary said, my soul doth magnify the Lord. My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior, for he hath regarded the lowly state of his handmaiden. For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty has done to me great things, and holy is his name. And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. He has showed strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent away empty. He hath holtened his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy. He spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever. Mary abode with her about three months and returned to her own house. Amen, and we'll end our reading as we said at verse 56. Let's keep God's word before us open and unite briefly in a short word of prayer. Our Father and our God, we thank thee for our Lord and Savior, We thank thee for the miracle of the virgin birth, the incarnation, God became flesh and dwelt among us. What a marvel, what a mystery, and we laud thee and we glory And we praise and we worship thee. We come before thee as the shepherds did. We think of them as they came and knelt before him and worshipped him, bringing with them the best of gifts, gold, frankincense, myrrh. And Lord, we come, we pray that we may give the best, the best of our life, the best of our years, every part of us, we give entirely to thee. Thou art worthy of it all. Answer prayer. Meet with us, we pray around Thy word. Let Thy presence be known in a very tangible way, we ask. For I offer prayer in and through our Savior's precious and worthy name. Amen and amen. Last Lord's day we find ourselves transported to the hill country of Judea, into the home of Zacharias and Elizabeth. And there we stood listening to Mary's song. Mary, the expectant mother of the Christ child, sings praises unto her God. On that occasion, I highlighted just a number of general points concerning Mary's song. We noted together that it was a personal song. She sings, my soul, my spirit, my savior. All these phrases appear within the song's stances. We thought about how it was heartfelt. She employs voice and heart and soul and spirit, all the emotions and the singing of the praise of her God. We thought about its intensity. No lethargy marked this woman's praise, but rather intensity marked her worship, intense because of her love her love for her Saviour causing her to magnify the Lord and to rejoice in God her Saviour. We thought about how her song was marked by it being biblical. Many of the phrases, many of the statements we found were derived, direct quotations from the Old Testament scriptures and thus her praise was biblical and its character. But today we come to consider what she sings about, the very content of her song, the acclamation that she presents to God in her praise. And I trust that what we will see, we will be able to derive comfort and counsel for our lives today. The very first matter that Mary sings about in her song is concerning the Lordship of God, the Lordship of God. Look with me at the words of verse 46. And Mary said, my soul doth magnify the Lord. The word Lord here is the Greek word kurios. It refers to God as being master. One who is in control. One who is supreme. one who is sovereign. I'm told that the Greek word kurios can mean the teacher who has authority over their disciples, or the master who has command over their servants, or the Lord who has power over all. And Christ is all of these things to us as his people. Mary goes straight to the object of worship in her song. She goes immediately to the Lord himself. There is no indication within the song that she is to be worshipped, but rather all praise and all worship and all adoration is to go to God and to God alone. That stands in stark contrast to what the Roman Catholic Church would have us to do. Roman Catholic teaching would have us to adore Mary. They would have us to adore her as the Mother of God, as the Queen of Heaven, the Mother of the Church, the Seat of Wisdom, the Gate of Heaven, the Refuge for Sinners. These are all titles that the Roman Catholic Church gives to this girl, Mary, that we find in Luke chapter 1. And yet Mary, within her song, she worships God and God alone. Whenever we think of all that had been told Mary, we think of the miraculous events that were about to unfold within her life. She is about to become the mother of the Christ child. We would have thought that there's a girl who most surely would have been vaunted up with pride, lifted up with pride. She surely would have been a woman who would have been right to demand the praise and the worship of others. And yet, though she was highly favored of the Lord, as Gabriel said, blessed above woman, yet she only magnifies one, not herself, but she magnifies the Lord. It was C.H. Spurgeon who put it like this. Nature would have said, Mary, magnify yourself, but grace said, Mary, magnify the Lord. While self would have had her to magnify self, the grace of God caused her to magnify the Lord. And what does she say about her God? What does she say about this one that she's praising? Well, she identifies him firstly as the Lord. She's declaring, He is my Lord. He is my master and I am but his servant. She speaks of herself as being the handmaid of the Lord, the bond servant of the Lord. This is how she refers to herself. There is a teaching that goes around in Christian circles today that whenever we become a Christian, There is a point subsequent to that moment of salvation where we make Christ Lord of our lives. But that teaching has no biblical warrant to it whatsoever. We don't make Christ Lord. He is Lord. He is Lord. Lord of our lives. And so the question that we come to ask ourselves on this Christmas Sunday is this, do we acknowledge him to be such? And do we live our lives in light of the fact that he is Lord. You see, the question in salvation is not whether Jesus Christ is Lord, but whether we are submissive to his Lordship. Surrender to Christ's Lordship is the only acceptable response to the gospel, and any message that does not call sinners to submit to Christ as Lord is not the gospel at all. The angels when announcing the news to the shepherds that the long-awaited Messiah had been born, they said, and look to verse 11, these words, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior which is Christ the Lord. The Savior, Christ the Lord. We can often piously sing He is Lord. He is Lord. But is He really Lord of our lives? If God has redeemed you, if God has called you, if God has justified you, if God has sanctified you, if God has given you a name and a place among His people, then He is to be Lord over all. Lord over all. Matthew Henry, the much respected Bible commentator, he said, all the grace contained in the Bible is owing to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. And unless we consent to him as our Lord, we cannot expect any benefit by him as our Savior. You see, folks, whenever this matter of the Lordship of Christ is settled within the Christian's life, then every other issue is settled. You see, as a preacher I could come and preach to you about many things. I could call, come to this place and preach to you about the Christian's call to serve God. I could preach a message on the believer's need to be personally involved in evangelism, soul winning and witnessing. I could bring a message concerning the Christian's responsibility when it comes to our stewardship of time. I could speak about the issue of our need to employ and use our talents and our gifts within the local church. I could bring a message with respect to the requirements that God places with regard to our time and our money and God's treasury. I can take a text out of God's word and preach to you about the need to be faithful in God's work. I could preach a message about the need for vision with respect to world missions. I could bring a text of scripture and then preach upon it with regard to the need for holiness, Many issues I could speak about from this pulpit and many issues I have, but I am convinced that if the Christian has this matter settled, if they have the matter settled that He is Lord of my life, that I am but his servant, that I am no longer my own, that I have been bought with a price, and it is my responsibility to serve God, and the duty has been laid upon me to live my life to please Him. If I have this matter settled, that He is Lord of my life, then every other issue in life is settled. You see, whenever He is Lord, and we acknowledge him to be so, then the believer, they will joyfully and unhesitantly fulfill their duties, their responsibilities, and their obligations within the work of Jesus Christ. The problem is that for many, he's not Lord. For many, they live self-centered lives. They live their lives to themselves and not unto God. And so he has no control, he has no governance, no lordship over the life. And yet here we have a young girl believed to be in her teenage years and she speaks about the Lord. And she brings herself under His Lordship. She understands that He is my Lord, He is my Savior, and as a result of that, I am but His handmaiden. Do you see yourself as that today? There are obligations, responsibilities. There are duties placed upon us, those who are in the family of God. I wonder, have you allowed yourself to come under his lordship, and are you fulfilling those responsibilities? So she speaks about the lordship of God. The second matter that she sings about within the song is the salvation of God. In verse 47, if you cast your eye there, she says, my spirit hath rejoiced in God my savior. Mary could have sang about many things. concerning God. She could have sang about God, my helper. She could have sang about God, my strength. She could have sang about God, my wisdom. She could have sang about many things, but instead we find that this girl, she focuses upon God as her savior. Now that statement from Mary, it strikes a fatal blow to one of the four dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church concerning her teaching about Mary. She has four dogmas, four doctrines. They are Mary's perpetual virginity, Mary as the mother of God, Mary's immaculate conception, and Mary's assumption. The dogma of Mary's immaculate conception is a teaching that the Virgin Mary was conceived free from original sin by virtue of the merits of her Son, Jesus Christ. The Catholic Church teaches that God acted upon Mary in the first moment of her conception, keeping her immaculate or free from sin. And so Mary, according to the Roman Catholic Church, comes into this world without sin. Now if that be true, why then did Mary need a Savior? If she was born free from sin, why did Mary need a Savior? What was he going to save her from? Because a Savior saves from sin. But Mary, she speaks not of God a saviour or God this saviour, but she sings about God my saviour. This one who is coming into the world is her saviour. Not that he's going to be my saviour, but he is presently my saviour, even before he's born. She looks ahead to the coming one, Mary. She sings of her personal Savior. God becomes her Savior even before the Savior is born. She looks ahead. We look behind. We look back. A Savior has been born. She looks ahead. A Savior is coming into this world. So she rejoices in God, my Savior. This is the one who has saved me from my sin. I am trusting in his work, his person. And as a result, I can claim him as mine. Mine, mine, mine. I know thou art mine. Savior, dear Savior, I know thou art mine. Let me ask you, I look down into this congregation, and I see individuals, and you've come to another Christmas, and you're still not seeing. You come to another time of the year when you'll gather home for family reunions and festivities, and you'll gather around the table in the will of God in coming days, but you've come to another Christmas, and you still do not know Him as your Savior. Still you know nothing of His power to save you from your sin. And I fear, I fear for you, because I fear that there are people in this place, and it seems to me that you're just content to drift through one year into the next, and then into the next. without ever considering your personal need of a saving faith in Jesus Christ. No thought about the Savior, no thought about His salvation. And yet, you may never live to see Wednesday. You may never even live to see out this day. What if you died without Him? What if you died without this Savior? What if you died without being savingly united to the Lord Jesus Christ? What hope will there be for you in eternity? What would this preacher say at your funeral service? What would he say about the state of your soul? There is no evidence of genuine saving faith within. There's nothing, no fruit to look upon and say, well, there was something there that encouraged the heart of the preacher to say, something had been wrought within the soul. There is nothing there. And here you are, 2019, almost gone, still unconverted, still under the condemnation of God. Still estranged from God and from His grace. Still no hope of heaven, no hope of home. What would you do if death would come and usher you out into God's eternity? You have no Savior. You have no means of rescue. You have no means to heaven. There is no hope of any glad reunions with those saved who have gone on before. All hope is gone. And you'll die in your sin. And where Christ is, you'll never be. I would implore you today to come to the Savior without any more delay. Note with me that knowing God as her Savior brought joy to Mary's heart. Verse 47, my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. I tell you, as Mary thought about God as her Savior, her spirit was brought into a state of rejoicing. There's little of that about today. Rejoicing, I'm speaking about. Oh, there's plenty of grumbling. There's an abundance of complaining. There's no shortage of griping and criticizing, but there is a scarcity of rejoicing. Paul, when he was languishing in prison, Philippians 4 verse 4, he would say, Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. Psalm 32 verse 11 exhorts us to be glad in the Lord and rejoice, ye righteous, and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart. Now you may say, Preacher, Preacher, I have nothing to rejoice in this Christmas. 2019 has been very difficult. The valleys have been deep, and the nights have been so dark, and my circumstances, whether it be in the service of God, or whether it be in my home, or my family, or my business, those circumstances have brought me almost to wit's end corner. I have been brought to a place of almost depression, and you would say, preacher, there's nothing, there is nothing that I can rejoice in, to which I would say nonsense. Nonsense! If you're a child of God, you have everything to rejoice in. You can rejoice in the fact that your sins, your sins, you think of them, the great sins, those sins that stood to your sin account, that would justly have condemned you and damned you to the lowest hell, those sins have been washed away in the blood of Jesus Christ. You can rejoice in that. You can rejoice in the fact that your name is written in heaven, never to be erased. You can rejoice in the fact that you've been reconciled to God. You can rejoice in the fact that you've been made a member of the family of God. You can rejoice in the fact that you're an object of God's unchanging love. You can rejoice in the fact that you'll never be in hell, but that you'll stand on the golden streets of heaven someday. You can rejoice in the fact that you're eternally secure, and that nothing and no one can pluck you out of the Father's hand, or separate you from the love of Christ. You have everything to rejoice in, whenever you consider. what God has done for you. What did Mary say? Verse 49, she said, for he that is mighty hath done to me great things. Salvation is one of those great things. Brother, sister, rejoice in the blessings and the comforts that God the Son secured for you by his death on Calvary's cross. Rejoice in God's salvation. rejoice in his salvation. He has come. He has come to save, and he has saved my soul. The third matter that Mary sings about in her song is the condescension of God. Note the continued strain of praise to God in Mary's song as it continues into verse 48. Verse 48, for he hath regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden. Think of that. The eternal, the infinite, the almighty God regarding the lowest state of one of his handmaidens. Surely there are more important. Surely there are more pressing, surely there are more vital matters to take the attention of Jehovah, like the rise and the fall of nations, like the exalting and disposing of rulers, like the upholding of the worlds by His power, but no, no, God condescends, God stoops God lowers himself to regard the lowly state of his handmaiden, Mary. A God who has a million, a billion, a trillion other things to think upon, has time to think upon a young woman from Nazareth. Oh, the matchless condescension the eternal God displays as he regards the lowly state of his handmaiden. The word here, regarded, it means to look upon with favor and pity. To look upon with favor and pity, and who does he regard? Yes, He regards the kings and the queens and the presidents and the prime ministers and the rich and the affluent of our society. He regards all of these people, thank God for that. But He, He regards even those in the lowest state. The lowest, the lowest He regards. By this I am reminded that God is no respecter of persons. God is not influenced by our wealth. God is not influenced by our honor. God is not influenced by our positions. God is not influenced by the office by which we hold in the church or outside the church, but rather He regards those of low estate. These are the people that the God of glory regards. Is that not a blessing? Is that not a comfort to our hearts, brethren and sisters? If He looks upon those of low estate, that means that He looks upon me. He looks upon you. He regards you. He looks with favor and pity upon you today in this house. What a blessing to know. I tell you, none of us are wealthy. None of us are wealthy compared to the extent of others in this world. None of us are billionaires. None of us hold positions of high authority within our society that others would aspire to. None of our homes are palatial compared to those whose property's values are in the millions. And yet, thank God, he still looks upon us. He favors us. He looks upon us with pity. He thinks upon us. He considers us. I tell you, Queen Elizabeth doesn't think about you today. And Boris Johnson, he has no regard for you. But despite that, the Creator, the Sustainer, the Upholder, the Almighty, The God of glory, the God of grace regards me. Today I am the object of his thoughts. And what marks his thoughts? Jeremiah 29, 11 tells us what marks his thoughts. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil. to give you an expected end. This is how God thinks upon you today. Thoughts of peace and not of evil. Why does He think upon us in such a way? With all of our faults, with all of our failures, with all of our sins, with all of our backslidings, with all of our coldness, how does God come to think such thoughts to me? Thoughts of peace and not of evil. I'll tell you why. Because I am united to Jesus Christ. That's why. Because of my union to Jesus Christ, He regards me in His Son. And as He looks at me, He sees His Son. Because of Him, He thinks in this way. Even when I'm found in low estate, I wonder, are you in that estate today? Are you low? Are you in the valley? Are you downcast? Discouraged? And it seems to be, and you think in your mind, God, God could not think upon me. Here I am. I profess to be a Christian, and yet I find myself in such a state, in such a condition. This should not be where I am. And yet this is where Mary was, and she was to become the mother of the Christ child. She's in lowly state, and God thought of her. God thinks of you, child of God, today. He does. You be encouraged by that. God's thoughts are towards you. Even in lowly states. You may feel yourself to be ignored. You may feel yourself to be overlooked. You may feel yourself to be dismissed by others, even by those within the fellowship of saints. And yet take this word to be your comfort today. God regards those of low estate. The fourth matter that she sings off is the power of God. Firstly, Mary speaks of God's power displayed personally to her in her own life. Verse 49, we pointed you there, for he that is mighty hath done to me great things, and holy is his name. I believe that Mary, speaking about all, that happened within the spiritual realm, how he had extracted her from the dunghill of her sin, how he had cleansed her and saved her and clothed her in his righteousness. That work required omnipotent power to be exercised, the power of God. We read about it in salvation. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. This is the way that God exhibits his power by saving lost sinners, by extracting them from the grave of their sin, bringing them out of death and into new life. This is God working in power and this power is exhibited obviously in the life of Mary, this woman from Nazareth. She comes to acknowledge God as her Savior. She has experienced the power of God in the gospel. And so have we. Those of us who are saved, we've experienced His power. His power in our lives as sinners held in the power of darkness and yet God in the gospel, He came and thank God He overthrew that power and He delivered us from all that bound and fettered us. We have experienced His power. Maybe you haven't. You know nothing of God's saving power in your life. You're still held in the power of darkness. I pray that all that will change as you repent and believe the gospel. I would pray that you would close Christ no longer out of your life, but open the heart's door, bid him enter while you may. But Mary speaks not only of his power in her own personal life, but then she speaks of God's power displayed in the life of her nation. Verse 51 and verse 52, 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 seats and exalted them of low degree. Mary recalls to her mind the history of her nation and the many displays of God's power that had been experienced by the children of Israel. their deliverance from Egypt's bondage by the blood of the Lamb, the opening of the Red Sea, the stopping of the waters of Jordan, the bringing down of those great bulwarks of Jericho, the destruction of the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir in the days of King Jehoshaphat, the deliverance of Daniel from the lion's den, and others like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the burning fiery furnace, all of these things she recalls to her mind, and as she does so, she attributes these victories not to the military skill of Israel's kings or army generals, not to the personnel that would make up Israel's armies, but to the strong arm of her God. It was His arm that did it all. It was His arm that had scattered the pride in the imagination of their hearts, and it was God that put down the mighty foe from their seats. And, brethren and sisters, this God is our God. While the heathen may rage, and they ungodly feel that their sinful agendas have been bolstered by recent seeming successes, Yet he that is mighty is on the side of all who are his children, and of God before us who can be against us. We must then by faith sing, sing of God's power in the expectation that God will arise again in that power on our behalf and with his undiminished strength, he will scatter the proud and he will put down the mighty from their seats again. Our God is able. He that is mighty. That's our God. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. and he will save. A fifth matter that she sings about is the mercy of God. Verse 50, Mary sings, and his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. That mercy is again referred to in verse 54, he hath hopened his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy. Mercy, God not giving me what I deserve. Now that's a matter that's worth singing about. That's a matter that's worth sharing with others over this Christmas period, that our God is a God of mercy, a God of mercy. The word hopin' there in verse 50, it denotes to take hold of one, to help up one when they are in danger of falling. This is mercy exhibited. God coming and strengthening his people when they are feeble, when they are in danger of falling, when they are in the threat of being overthrown, and he comes to strengthen them by reminding them that God is a God of mercy. Maybe 2019 you have strayed, you have wandered, You come to the end of this year, and your walk with God is not as close as it was. But I want to remind you of God's mercy. There's mercy with God. God is the God of new beginnings, and he would encourage you to return and to seek his mercy. Child of God, think of God's mercy to you. Consider his mercy to you prior to your salvation. Think of the numerous times that he spared your life and consequently spared you from death and hell. Consider the many times that he appealed to you in the gospel and you turned away from him. ponder the gospel privileges that you enjoyed whilst others across the world did not enjoy such things. These were God's mercies to you before salvation. And then think of his mercy after salvation. Is it not the case that goodness and mercy has followed you all the days of your life? Adequate mercy? to cover your many failures and mistakes as a Christian. It's mercy that keeps you and I from falling. It's mercy that will see us safely brought into the Redeemer's home and the Redeemer's kingdom when death calls or Christ comes, mercy. Christians, think of where you would be this Lord's Day if it wasn't for the mercy of God. I tell you, I know where I would be, probably in some bed, nursing some hangover, if it hadn't been for the mercy of God that he showed me Christmas 1997. It was this day, Christmas Sunday, that God rescued this preacher. Where would I have been? Where would you have been if it wasn't for his mercy? I tell you, that's something worth singing about. God's mercy. To you who know nothing of his mercy, let me say that God has abundant mercy, a mercy that is free to all who seek it in the gospel. It's tender mercy. It's forgiving mercy. It's soul-saving mercy. Hasten to him and seek his mercy. Sixth and finally, for today, Mary sings about the provision of God. Mary sings in verse 53 of God filling the hungry with good things. to those who hunger after righteousness, to those who hunger after God, to those who hunger after holiness, the promise is that God will fill such hungry ones with good things. Note the extent to which He fills. Note the extent to which the hungry one's appetite is satisfied. They are filled. filled. It's not that the hungry one is thrown, as it were, a few crumbs from off the master's table. No, no. No, he brings us into his banqueting house. He sits us down at his table and we feast on his delights. We leave his table full. The world will leave its tables on Wednesday empty. Oh, their bellies will be full of turkey and plum pudding. Their bellies will be full, but they'll leave their souls and they'll be empty. But the believer, our souls are filled. There is a completeness to this provision laid on by God for us the hungry. He filleth! He filleth! Oh thank God! He filleth me and so to the child of God who today is spiritually hungry. to the empty one, to the impoverished one, let me assure you that your loving Father has bread enough and to spare for you at His table. There is rich provision, there is ample provision, there is sufficient provision, there is full, there is free provision available to us. And so He invites you, He encourages you, He implores you to come and dine. Come and dine. The hymn writer put it like this, come and dine. The master calleth, come and dine. You may feast at Jesus' table all the time. He who fed the multitude turned the water into wine to the hungry calleth now, come and dine. Here you are, a sinner. And here you are, an empty sinner. He will fill you. He will fill you with joy unspeakable and full of glory. He'll fill you with assurance. He'll fill you with peace. He'll fill you with His Spirit. Come, impoverished soul, come to Christ. His storehouses are filled. These are some of the things Mary sings of. We haven't the time to speak of others. In verse 49, she sings of His holiness. In verse 50, she sings of God's sovereignty. And in verse 51, she speaks of God's interventions. In verse 52, she speaks of God's justice and God's providence. In verse 54, she speaks of God's help and God's succor. And in verse 55, she speaks of God's faithfulness. Her song's all about her God. It's all about Him. And folks, that's what it should be. It should be all about Him. All about Him. Nothing about Mary. All about Him. We have much to sing about. Lordship, salvation, condescension, power, mercy, provision. Let us sing the praises of God our King. And as we do so, may others see it and fear and trust in the Lord. Let us magnify our God as Mary did in this song of hers. May God bless His word to our hearts. Let's bow in prayer. Oh, may you leave this house today singing, maybe not verbally, but within the soul, within the heart. May your heart be singing today as you consider the greatness of your God. And if you know I'm not, let then this service be the day that you start singing, and the day that God puts into your soul a new song, even praise unto your God. If I can help you then, speak to me at the close of this service today. Our loving Father, O God, we come before thee. Our eyes have been lifted to our God. And surely that's a message and the kind of messages that we need. Oh God, messages that lift our eyes to heaven, to our God. Looking beyond the mess and the shadows of this old world with all of its sorrow and heartache and disappointment, we lift our eyes to the throne of God. where this God of mercy and provision and salvation and wisdom and justice and faithfulness reigns over all things. Oh, may we know Him, and may we love Him, and let all other loves be pushed out and away from our lives, we pray. Help us to singularly love our God. Bless us. Be with us in the meeting, O God, this afternoon and this evening. Thy power be known among us. Thy mercy, thy saving health, answer prayer. Glorify thy son. We offer prayer in and through his blessed and holy name. Amen and amen. Thank you.