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Dec 10, 2023

God’s Absolute Love

God’s Absolute Love

Passage: Luke 1:26-55

Speaker: Matt Petty

Series: Christmas At Burnt Hickory

Category: Sunday Sermons

Keywords: love, church, prayer, faith, christmas, jesus, god, sermon, christian, bible, christ, hope, sermons, holy spirit, peace, angels, mary, jesus christ, the bible, christianity, nativity, bible study, bethlehem, god is love, birth of jesus, mary and joseph, christmas story, study the bible, christmas sermon series, christmas season, bible teaching, jesus loves me, christmas sermons, story of jesus, jesus is born, 2023, god loves me, burnt hickory worship, burnt hickory baptist church live stream

In our sermon series around the themes of Advent leading up to Christmas, we explore absolute love this week. God is always faithful and always fulfills His promises. God’s love deeply knows all of each of us, from the beginning to the end, and He constantly provides His life-giving power to us. Because of His love, He richly extends His eternal mercy to us and will reward a humble heart. Because He fulfills every promise, we can trust Him with everything in life. Just like Mary did in scripture when she was told about the birth of her son being the Messiah, we should glorify the lord and rejoice in our soul because of God’s saving love. Is your faith at a point to where nothing matters more than answering the call of God? Have you set out to glorify yourself or is your soul magnifying the Lord and His saving love? Are you truly believing and placing your faith in the promises of God? If you’ve got questions or need prayer, we’d love to connect with you, answer any questions you have, and take time to pray with you. Just reach out today! And if you want to take the next step in your faith journey, visit burnthickory.com/next.

Well, good morning, church. I hope you have had a great, great week and got in out of the rain and found a parking spot this morning. Amen. Those two things have been on most people's minds. We are excited to be here and we love this time of the year. We are in our Christmas series as of last week. So if you want to join me and Luke, chapter one, Luke, Chapter one, we're going to get there in a few minutes. We are in a Christmas series, are what we're just calling an adventure series that is doing one thing and that is kind of bringing all of our attention, all of our minds, and all of our hopes into the Person of Jesus. Actually, last week, as we launched this series, we talked a lot about what Advent is. We know a lot of you guys are new to church and you're like, I thought it was the Christmas series, not the Advent series, to which we just say it's both. Advent is just a fancy word, for those of you that didn't grow up in church, it's a fancy word that just is a proclamation of setting our hearts in a time of anticipation for the coming of Jesus. Advent is a couple of weeks leading up to Christmas Day, to where we're looking towards the coming of Jesus, we're setting our lives and our attention and we're aligning ourselves around the celebration that we serve a God that comes to us. And when you think about it, that is something incredibly big to be excited about because no other religion, no other place on earth can celebrate the fact that their God came out of glory to become man and be with us. Church, that's what Christmas is about. That's what the whole idea about the incarnation of the birth of Jesus is about.

And not only do we celebrate the fact that we serve a God that came, we're celebrating a God that is going to come again one day. That's how we get to be the most incredibly joyful people on this planet. Well, last week we launched into this series and we said that we're going to look at some major themes or major chunks of our faith. We started the series off last week by looking at the idea that we can have hope and beyond anything that our culture tells us are the events that our world is involved with today. We said last week that our hope doesn't come from the situations we're in. It comes from the fact that we know God, that we have God and we have his promise. Last week, we jumped into the lives of the priest named Zachariah and his wife named Elizabeth. And we said that after 400 years of silence between the Old Testament and the New Testament, God last week spoke and said that there was a man named John that was about to be born. That was going to be the forerunner of the Messiah Jesus. That was going to be the one that was going to save the people from their sins. Last week we jumped into the story of Zachariah and Elizabeth having a son named at John the Baptist. And we said inside that story that we have a God that removes our past, that reshapes our present, that refocuses our future. And because of all of that, we can have hope. We can have hope no matter what life throws at us. Well, this week we're going to continue our march and these major themes. And this week we're going to celebrate with the mother of Jesus, with Mary this week around the idea of love. Around this idea of God's love. And not only does God's love want to be expressed over you, God's love wants to be expressed through you.

So this week, as we look at Mary's life, we're going to see that not only do we have hope in Jesus, we have love in Jesus. Why? Because of his birth. You know, any time we talk about the love of Christ and the ultimate display of the love of Christ, our mind is for those of us that have kind of grown up in church for a long time, our minds always go towards the crucifixion of Jesus, right? It is the ultimate act of love. It's the ultimate act of sacrifice. Right? Our minds go when we attach the love of God to the crucifixion. But let me warn you and say this while yes, it is 100% appropriate to look at the crucifixion as the monumental statement of God's love. We cannot pass the fact that God sending Jesus is an incredible picture of his love. It's an incredible picture of his heart. In fact, John 3:16 when you go to watch the ball games this afternoon, the NFL, you will see a sign with John 3:16 on it between your naps. John 3:16 tells us that for God so loved the world that he did what? That he gave, that he gave. It is an expression of God's love that we get to have Christmas. We get to celebrate the coming of Jesus. For God loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Last week we talked a little bit about the Garden of Eden. When sin came, hope had to be established. But also when we go back to the Garden of Eden, when we go back to Genesis Chapter one, through Genesis Chapter three, we also see that not only was Hope established in that point, but we also see that God's love collided with God's holiness. You see, in the Garden of Eden, when man sinned and walked away from God. It was at that point that the full love of God and the full holiness of God had this collision point. And God knew that in order to reconcile those two things together, in order for a holy God to be in the presence of a sinful man, that something had to happen, a sacrifice had to be made. And at that moment, God said that that sacrifice is going to be Jesus. And that Jesus was going to come and he was going to put on flesh and he was going to be the sacrifice for my sins. He was going to live the life I should have lived and die, the death that I deserved to die. And at that moment, the love of God was expressed in the fact that one day, one day the Savior of the world was to be born. And church, that is the love of God, that even though we walked away, he gave us his son.

So this morning, as we take this next step in Advent, it's kind of twofold. It's to understand the ultimate expression of the love of God, but it's also to place our lives into a lifestyle that not just sucks the love of God into us, but it expresses it around us. And what better person to look at this morning to show us this than Mary? Other than Mary, the mother of Jesus? Let's talk about Mary just for a second. Then we're gonna get to the background that Luke gives us. When you think about Mary, it is an incredible, incredible, incredible thing to look at. Why? Because when you think about Mary, Mary was the only human being to ever walk the earth, that was at the birth, the life, and the death of Jesus. Have you ever thought about this? She was the only one. You say Matt, What about Joseph? History tells us that Joseph died prior to Jesus being on the cross. Right. Because Jesus told John to take care of Mary. Joseph would have already passed away. But Mary experienced the absolute holistic love of who Jesus was. Church history also tells us that Mary is the one that is responsible for giving Luke his account of the birth story of Jesus. And this is incredibly smart. I thought it was Luke. Wasn't he one of the disciples? No, he wasn't. He wasn't. People say that all the time He wasn't. In fact, if you go and read Luke, you will see that Luke set out to give an account of eyewitnesses. That's what Luke did. Luke got his story of the birth of Jesus from none other than Mary, which is an incredible person to give it. Why? Because if there's anybody that can express the love of God, the story of Jesus being born, it was Mary, right? Mary knows what this love looks like. How? Because she birthed it, right? She birthed it. She watched it grow. She watched it grow in wisdom and in stature, and in favor of God and man. She watched it grow in Jesus's dealings with his brothers and sisters and his dealings with his disciples.

She watched it grow in his dealings with the crowd. She watched it as Jesus was on the cross. She watched it as they put him in the tomb. She watched it as he rose from the grave, and she watched it as he ascended back to the father. No one can give us the story of God's love like Mary can. So this morning, what we're going to do is we're going to take the first couple of scenes from the birth story of Jesus from Mary's perspective. Why not all of them Matt? We don't have till about 4:00, that's why. Right. We're going to take the first couple of stories and we're going to pull some wisdom from it that just encourages us how to walk in God's love. All right, Luke, Chapter one, verse 26 is where we're going to start. You were here last week. We kind of read the story of Zachariah and Elizabeth. That was the first part, and we kind of skipped down to the second part. We're going to look right in the middle of what we talked about last week. Verse 26. Let me read it. It says this. It says in the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the Angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee. You know what I thought about yesterday? How cool would it have been to be Gabriel on the scene at this moment, right? For 400 years, Gabriel doesn't get to do anything right, Doesn't get to talk to man, doesn't get to bring a message to man. And now he's on the scene over and over again in the birth story. All right. Maybe that's just me. I was just thinking about that yesterday. Verse 27. It says that God sent an angel Gabriel to the town of Nazareth. A town in Galilee. Verse 27 to a virgin Pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, Greetings, you who are highly favored. The Lord is with you. Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. Verse 30. But the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. I love what Luke does here.

I love Luke's writing style. I loved it from a medical doctor perspective that Luke doesn't just jump into the story here. He gives us some background information here about what is happening and who Mary is. Why? Because he knew that for generations people were going to want to know what is happening and he wanted to validate exactly that this is true. If you want to know its truth, go talk to the people. Go look up the stuff. Go circle back around with those involved. As he produced his letter, you could verify it. And he gives us some background information here. A couple of things about Mary that are just important to note in what we just read. You see, first of all, that Mary was a real person. Verse 26 just told us that Mary was a real person. To which I can see, you're like, Matt, what does that matter? It matters a lot because throughout history there have been many people who have tried to take this section of Scripture and make it out to be allegory or make it out to be a fairy tale or make it out to be a mythical once upon a time kind of start to a Jesus story. But Luke comes out and he says, No, Mary is a real person. She's from a real place called Nazareth, a real podunk, little nothing of a town that really no one should ever even know about, except for the fact that that's where Mary's from and that's where Jesus is from. Even Nathaniel later on, our Nathan later on in John, chapter one says nothing good could come out of that little town.

But we know about it because Luke is confirming that Mary is a real person. Never let anybody look at you and go, That's just a mythical figure. No, Luke says she's real. Verse 27. We also see that Mary was a virgin. She was a virgin. What? What does that mean? That just literally means that she had never been in an intimate situation with a man. Right. Don't read into that. There's nothing more to it than that. There's nothing less to it than that. That just means that she had never had sexual relations with a man. There's no hidden meaning. Never let anybody try to give you a long special something. Don't read the text. That's what it says. Also, what does he tell us? It says, Keep going. And 27 says that Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph. She was pledged to be married. In other words, marriages looked a little different then. Marriage was on a Saturday afternoon in a north Georgia or apple orchard in a barn. That's not what marriage was. And that day, right? Marriage on this day was kind of a two part deal where you entered into an official marriage. The dowry was paid. The contracts were in place. You spent nine months to a year in a betrothal kind of, we are officially married, but haven't sealed the deal. You know what I'm saying? And told the party that it had happened and they were waiting on the rest of the marriage to happen. That's the situation they were in. She was there.

You also see here that Mary was the younger cousin of Elizabeth. We're going to see that in a few minutes. Right. We also see that Mary was a descendant of David. What is Luke doing here? He's proving his point. That. Mary. Mary, we know who Mary is. We see that she's a descendant of David, as referred to in Luke three. We see that Joseph was also a descendant of David and Matthew's genealogy. When thinking about Mary here, we also have to think about that culturally, Mary would have been somewhere between the ages of 13 and 15 years old, 13 to 15 years old now. I need to do something. If you are between the ages of 13 and 15 years old, stand up for me real quick, Real fast. Get off your phone. Stand up just for a second. Right. Just a second. You like that? All right, just for a second. Stand up, 13 and 15. Where are you at? Where are you? I know I'm not stopping until I see you. I know you. All right? I know you. 13 to 15. Where are you at? Where are you at? All right. Where are you at? All right, Now look at me, y'all. Look at me. Y'all better hurry up. All right, Y'all better hurry up. You got it. All right, now, sit down. Sit down. All right, all right, sit down. For those of you that just stood up, you're late. All right, You're late to the party. They are already on their way to get married. All right? Culturally, you're like, Man, I'm just trying to figure out algebra. There it is. Listen, culturally, this is what happened, all right? Biologically, they were already right. Culturally, this is where things happened. Mentally, they were ready for marriage. Like, I'm still playing Pokémon. All I know, this is where they were. All right. She would be between 13 and 15 years old. All right. 13 to 15. Also, we also see what it looks like. Say that Mary is blessed. She's blessed and highly favored. In verse 28, Gabriel looks at her, says, Greetings to you, who are highly favored. You can see that they're right in verse 30. Gabriel says it again: Don't be afraid, Mary. You are highly favored, right? We see Elizabeth in verse 42. We're going to see this later. She looks at her and says, Blessed among women are you?

We see Mary and her prayer later on. I think it's in verse 48 where she even says that many generations are going to call me blessed. We see this. But at this point, I got to pause and just teach you something for a minute because we got to be careful about the favored thing. We got to be real careful about it because throughout history we have listened to this. Throughout history, this has caused a tremendous divide. Tremendous divide in peoples. All right. Because here's why. Because there are some on this side that really and truly throughout the years have worshiped Mary. They have. But there's some on this side who really and truly have just flushed her and think there's no real reason to even mention her name.

Let me explain this for a minute. For those that are on this side that have elevated Mary, there are people who have elevated Mary to what we would just kind of call a co-redeemer. A mediatrix or a dispenser of grace. This camp over here would claim that she remained a virgin, that she was untouched by sin, that she has now ascended and become the Queen of Heaven, and that now Mary's role is to answer your prayers. Okay. That is where life is in this camp on this side. Now, now, listen to me closely. I mean, insensitively. You can't find this in scripture. It's not there. You can't find it anywhere in Jesus's teaching at all. But. But let me speak to this camp. I want to give a fair assessment over here. There's a camp over here. They just push Mary away. That washes her out of history, and they don't want to give her any honor and totally disregard her from even being uniquely called. Okay, So. So where does the Bible land? Right? Where is the Bible? Because that's what's important right now. What I think Now what you think now what happens at your family table. Right. What matters is where the Bible lands. Where the Bible lands is this, Mary is a sinner in need of a savior. But she's still a blessed lady. She is still a blessed lady, she still has been called, I mean, and actually by her own confession later on, Mary recognizes her need for a savior by saying that it is only because of the grace of God that it's been given to her that she honors God and the other people will honor her.

Listen closely to me. There is no role in Mary in our prayers. It is only because of God. God is the only dispenser of grace. God is the only giver of salvation, and God is the only one through our intermediary Jesus that hears our prayers. That's it. But listen to me. God chose Mary's. God called Mary and God set Mary apart to be something special. Okay. Are you feeling these things together? Are you feeling alright? I know that's going to cause a great Christmas conversation around some of your family that's going to visit right here. It's going to be Sparky. All right? I'm going to tell you it's going to be okay. So what's happening in this right here? Gabriel pops on to the scene and says to Mary, Hey, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. It's okay. Don't be afraid. But you got to think that we know the end of the story, that Mary doesn't know it yet. She has no idea why this angel is talking to her until verse 31. Look at verse 31 with me. It says, Don't be afraid. Watch this, you will concede and birth a son and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great. Listen, ah I love this verse. He will be great and will be called the son of the most high. That's the same reference that the demon calls Jesus in March Chapter seven, by the way. Watch this. The Lord will give him the throne of his father, David.

In other words, he's going to fulfill the prophecy. He's going to be the Messiah from the line of David. She's just hearing this in her mind, verse 33. And he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever and his kingdom will never end. Man, that's so good, so good. Now, Mary, being a good Jewish girl. All right, Because she has grown up in the synagogue. All right. Knowing the Old Testament. You say Matt, how do you know that? Well, you're going to see in just a minute the back side of her prayer has no less than six references to the Old Testament prophecy. She knew it, Mary, at this moment, hearing from the angel, her mind, the switch in her mind, the lights flip on and she knows what's happening and she's blown away. She's blown away because for 2000 years, every single Jewish girl only dreamed of being the mother of the Messiah Jesus, of the Messiah that's coming. And now Mary is getting the news that Mary, it's going to be you. It's going to be you. The Messiah, the deliverer of all mankind, the one that has been promised for generation to generation to generation. The angel is saying he is now coming. And Mary, His kingdom and reign is going to last forever. And the angel says, Mary, you are going to have part in this. And you, Mary, you are going to be his mom. His mom. Listen, we cannot even imagine what is going through the mind of Mary at this point. We can't. Man, I try my best to place myself in the biblical text and I just can't do it. I can't. I can't even imagine the emotions that's going on in her mind. But then it hits her, then it hits Mary and she goes, Wait a minute, I'm a virgin, right? Wait, wait. I'm listening to you. But I'm a virgin. I remember my seventh grade human growth and development class, right? I remember this. And how, how is this going to happen?

You say Matt, no, no She didn't. Yes, she did. Look at verse 34. Watch this. Watch what Mary does. She says this. How will this be? Mary asked the angel since I'm a virgin. Now, this question from Mary right here. This question for Mary here, right here is not a question of mistrust. It's not a question of questioning the motives of God and the motives of the angel that was Zachariah's problem last week. If you were here, you remember Zachariah questioned the angel and questioned the intent of God, and God made him a mute. Do you remember that? He disciplined him until John was named, right. This question from Mary is different. It's not a question of intention. It's a question. It's an honest question, check this out, for further instruction. Let me just teach you just for a minute from this story, because this is important. God is okay with those kinds of questions. Never let anybody tell you that you can't ask God questions. You can. You can ask him questions, but you cannot question his motives. Does that make sense?

You can ask questions. God, I hear you and I'm in and I'm all yours. And let's go do this. But, God, I don't know how we're going to do this. God, I hear what you're asking me. I hear where we're walking. I hear where you're telling me to go. But, God, how are we going to do this? Those kind of questions God honors. Why? Because He knows we're finite human beings. He knows that we need his guidance. He knows that we need him in our lives. So Mary's not looking at him going, God. Not a chance. No way. Get out of here. Never going to happen. She's like, God, I'm a virgin. How are we going to do this? And listen, I just encourage you to ask those questions. God, I know that you're telling me to do that, but God, you're going to have to tell me how. You're going to have to give me my next step. He's okay with that. And watch the answer right here. The answer is incredible. Is the first place in the New Testament. We see the Trinity in one verse. Verse 35. It says this. Then the angel answered. Watch what he tells her.

He said, The Holy Spirit will come on you. There's a Holy Spirit, by the way, that would come on you, as is the word whoever or soar over you. It's the same language that's used in Genesis chapter one, verse two, where God hovered above the waters before he divided the land from the sea. He said, The Holy Spirit will come over you in the power of the most high will overshadow you. The Holy Spirit is present. The most high is talking about the Father. God right here is going to do what? He's going to overshadow you. Now, listen, that is not a reference to a sexual union between God and Mary. Never let anybody try to tell you that. That is a reference of God that created us from the dust pulsing the natural order that he has created long enough to give Mary inside of her the Jesus that she's going to have. That's all it is. If God is big enough to create us from nothing, He is big enough to implant Jesus into the womb of Mary. That's what that is. So the Holy Spirit is going to come over you. The most high God is going to do what? He is going to overshadow you. Watch this so that the Holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. That's the reference to Jesus, the third member of the Trinity, right? Verse 36 Even Elizabeth, your relative is going to have a child in her old age and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month.

Look at verse 37. Don't miss it. For no word. Listen to what the angel says. For no word from God will ever fail. Amen. Amen. That's incredible. Look at the principle right here. That the Angel has just taught Mary, that I just think that we need to pause and write it, at least in our notes this morning. I love this promise of verse 37. Write it down. Here's the principle. God is not like man. He always fulfills his promises. Always. This is the whole incarnation story, the whole advent, the whole birth story of Jesus is all wrapped around the idea that God fulfills his promises. And listen, I don't care what the people in your life has done to you. I don't care what the situations in your life have brought you. God will not leave you hanging. It's the message of the incarnation. So Mary is taking all of this in, taking it in. Now, it's easy for us to read it because we know the end of the story, right? We're looking at it like a movie script that we've already seen. But if Mary is like any bride that I've ever been with, which is a lot Mary has a lot of questions going on right now.

Mary has a lot to deal with in her mind right now. And she's thinking through this idea that I am about to be I'm about to be the mom of the Messiah, but I want you to see something in here that's a little bit heavy. Got to go a little bit deeper to see this point. And that's that Mary had a choice. Mary has the choice right here. Mary has to make a decision right here of what she's going to do. You know, unless you really slow down and read this, you don't see this. You see like every other calling in the Bible. God has given us the ability for us to say, yes, God, I am in and let's do this, or for us to say, no, no, no, no, God, I'm out. I'm walking away and I am going to choose to walk in my own direction. Many scholars feel that this is one of the biggest requests in all of Scripture scriptures for this lady in the Bible. Why? Because this is a really, really deep implications for us to say yes to what's about to happen to her, namely the fact that if the family and if the community doesn't believe her story, that this thing is from God jealous of is about to divorce her and she's going to be a destitute lady that is never going to get married. Culturally, the government could stone her to death because adultery was by law to be handled by death.

Third, she could possibly be disgraced out of our family, thrown out of her family with public shame because she's now an adulterous lady that is trying to pin this thing on God. And fouth, that people could just look at her like a crazy person. I mean, what if somebody shows up to your Christmas Day and goes, Hey, by the way, the Holy Spirit impregnated me, right? It doesn't go over well. So she's got this deep decision to make in her mind. Not only that, but just thinking about the pressure of being the mom of the savior of the universe you think is hard for your toddler. What if it was God right? That's even worse. So this is a big decision for her. So what happens? Without hesitation, Mary makes her decision and she responds. Right. It's what we're about to see. And I love the feeling of her response because you can kind of put yourself in the text. So with full understanding of the risk, with full understanding of what may happen to her down the road full of God's love, what does Mary do?

Mary agrees to the call, and she gives an unmistakable, unwavering Yes, I'm in. I'm in. And we pause there for a minute and just ask you a question. What would you have done? If this was you? What would you have done? Or here's the question I put in your notes. Is your faith, is your faith at a point where nothing matters more than answering the call of God? That's really what this text is pointing to, is it not? Is your faith at a point where nothing matters more than answering the call of God? Let me put a caveat on it. Even if there's consequences. Even if there's consequences. Or let me ask you something like this. Is your understanding of the love of God at a point to act even when you know there's going to be pushback? Or is your willingness to submit to God right now beyond your desire to self-promote or self elevate? That's really what Mary's dealing with in this. Look at her response, by 14 year old Mary.

Verse 38. I told you, watch what she says. Verse 38. She says, I am the Lord's servant. Church, if that could be the one message from the whole morning right there that we could grasp How incredible would God move in us? I am the Lord's servant. Mary, Answer May your word to me be fulfilled. What happened? The angel left her. What happened? She said Yes. If this could just be our message for the season, we would see God move. Back to the story Verses 39 through 45. Mary goes to Elizabeth's house. Probably the only person that can kind of somewhat relate to what she's doing in her life. She's getting away from her normal contacts, trying to figure things out a little bit. That's where the famous leaping of John the Baptist in the womb happens. Another incredibly big pro-life statement in scripture. We see in verse 43 that Elizabeth becomes the first person to proclaim Jesus as her Lord. I might add, we kind of missed that one a lot of times when telling the Christmas story, that she was the first person that said, My Lord. She not only does that, but in verse 45, she confirms to Mary that this is the fulfillment of all of the Old Testament situation and all of the Old Testament prophets.

So think about the situation in a bigger, bigger picture with me. What's happening? Joseph is still in Nazareth, right? We're told in Matthew that another angel visits. Gabriel gets to move again, right? Another angel visits and tells him, Hey, don't divorce her. This is really true, he is over there. And now Mary is with Elizabeth. She is extremely, extremely excited to be used by God. And then what happens? Mary shows us one of the most incredible pure pictures of the love of God that we have anywhere in Scripture. This 14 year old girl prays one of the deepest prayers of submission and of love in the whole Old Testament. What does she do? She breathes in adoration of who God is that we had all been called to have and I want her to teach us how personal, how big, and how incredibly respectful God's love is to us.

Let me just read her prayer over you, and in just a couple minutes point out five things that God's love shows her and shows us. Verse 46 Listen to Mary's prayer. And let's echo this in our lives. And Mary said, this after all this happened. Verse 46 and Mary says, My soul glorifies the Lord. We just sang it right, my soul. It glorifies the Lord. My spirit rejoices in God my savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on, she says, generations will call me blessed. What do Mary say right here? Number one, write this down. Mary says that God's love, number one, deeply knows all of me from the beginning to the end. It's what she just said, Right. What does she say? He has been mindful. What does that mean? Mary reminds us that God knows every part of us. There's no secrets. There's no compartments that are hidden from him, that he knows us, he's never forgotten us, and he's never walked away from us. He's been there when we're created. He's been there in the bad times. He's been there in the good times. And it also shows us that even when we have nothing of earthly substance to offer God, we are useful to God. He knows our hearts.

Mary is a young, poor, unmarried Jewish girl from a no name town and not from a priestly big family out there. She is a person that just simply said, I'm yours Lord. Listen, God knows your heart and all God wants from you is you saying God, Here's all I have and I'm giving it all to you. And here you are. Her and Joseph, they even remained poor after this and just said, Here's who we are. But yet all we know about Mary is that She said, Yes. Listen Church, that's what all God is asking from us. It's just from whoever we are and whatever we had to say here, God, you know me from the beginning to the end. So I'm just offering all of myself to you. Don't hide, Don't hide. Bring it in front of the Father's love.

But keep reading. Verse 49. She also says that she doesn't stop there. She says, for the mighty one has done great things for me. He's done great things for me. And Holy is his name. So not only does God love me or know all of me. But number two, watch this. God constantly proves his life giving power to me. He constantly proves it. What is Mary saying? The mighty one. God is doing a mighty thing in me and He is blessing me. The Jewish Talmud, the Handbook for Jewish Life said that every single girl that was Jewish grew up dreaming to be this. But now, in this very moment, God has placed this honor on Mary. By doing what? By giving her the life of the Messiah inside of her. By giving her the life of the Messiah. You say Matt, that's a little bit different than what God has done for me. Yes, it is A, but B, it's not. It is from a biological sense, but it's not from a spiritual sense. Why? Because what does God do in you the moment you give your heart and life over to the Lordship of Jesus? He births what? New life in you. He gives you a new heart. He gives you a new life. He gives you a new blessing and a new eternity in your mind. And he gives you his power. He gives you his power The moment you give your heart to Jesus. You have the same power living inside of you that rose Christ from the dead, God's love is His power in you.

But the question is, will you let it? Will you let it? Mary says, let it. Keep going. Number three, in God's love, God through his love he, Number three. He richly extends his mercy to me. He richly extends his mercy to me. Remember, God's mercy is just simply God given us an unmerited gift that we don't deserve of His love. It's his compassion that I don't deserve. But look at what Mary says in verse 50. She says, His - God's mercy extends to those who fear him and from generation to generation. Mary is simply saying, Listen, I don't deserve this. I'm not worthy of this. I'm not worthy to carry Jesus. The giving of Jesus to Mary is an unmerited gift of God. And listen in church, the giving of Jesus to us. It's an unmerited gift. It's a gift of life that we don't deserve. It's a gift of hope that we don't deserve. It's a gift of God's love that we don't deserve. But yet Christ has given to us. He's offered it to us. Mary wasn't perfect, otherwise she wouldn't have needed mercy. She was given the love of God. And listen to those of you that have given your life to Jesus.

Listen, You didn't deserve it, but he gave it to you. You didn't earn it, but he gifted it to you. Now the question is, what will you do with it? How will you walk it out? God is showing his love through his mercy. We see what Mary is doing here? She's tying together the power of God. She's tying together the presence of God. She's tying together the mercy of God. So what does she do? And she's preaching the gospel to us. And she's saying that none of us deserve it. But all we have to do is submit to it. But the question I have is, have you ever seen yourself as a sinner in need of a savior, in the mercy of God, and invited him to move in you? That's what Mary did. God's love is shown through his mercy, but keep moving. Verse 51. I don't want to not finish the text. It says this in verse 51. For he, God, has performed mighty deeds with his arm. He has scattered those who are proud in their innermost thoughts. He has brought down the rulers in their thrones, but he has lifted up.

Remember this? He has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things. But it sent the rich away empty. Now, remember, she's talking about herself. She's talking about mankind. So she's reminding us, write this down, number four that God's love greatly rewards and lifts my humble heart. It's what God does. In fact, we're shown this throughout the whole incarnation story, that God is flipping the worldly perspective upside down and God is lining up the cast of the Christmas series, right? The Advent series with humble people that nobody else would pick. A poor priest in his old wife last week. A young man, Joseph, that has not a lot going for him and a girl named Mary that is poor and not even known in the world. Next week we're going to look at some shepherds that can't even live in the city because they're unclean. And a Jesus that was born in a little manger that nobody even knew, hardly that it was happening. God uses humble hearts. God will reward the humble those that are not full of themselves, but full of the Holy Spirit. And God uses those who are willing and not those that just have the most to offer. Listen, God's love takes you from where you are, and all he wants to do is say, Give me what you got. Here's the fifth one. This is where we started and it's where we're going to end. Mary finishes by saying, God's love number five. It eternally keeps every promise he has made. You say Matt, you already said that. I know I said it because I just think we need to hear it. He keeps his promises. Listen, nobody else in your life has ever kept every single promise. Nobody, nobody but God does. In fact, look at verse 54 says, He has helped his servant, Israel. Listen to what God wants to tell you today, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever. Watch this. Just as he promised our ancestors. Church, Listen to me real closely about God. God will not, has not, has never left any one hanging.

I don't know what you put your hope in. I don't know what you're putting your love in. I don't know what you're putting your joy in or your peace in. But there is not another being that has ever existed on this planet or will ever exist that can say those words other than God. God's love knows all of me. He proves his power, extends his mercy. He rewards my humble heart. He keeps every promise. So here's my question to you as we close today. During this Advent season. Here it is. I put in your notes. Have I set to glorify myself or is my soul magnifying the Lord and his saving love? Church, I think we got some work to do. Man, I know this is an incredible, loving church. I know that we have some people who are absolutely with our mind set on who Christ is and what he's done. But I also know that not every one of these things is on the forefront of our minds and our hearts and everything that we do.

So here's my challenge to you this week. Find a way to say yes to God's love, to no to whatever the world is offering us. And let's magnify the God that has redeemed us.

Lord Jesus, in these next couple of minutes Lord Jesus. My prayer is that God, you would reach into our souls, Lord. You would grab us from where we are and put us in a position that our heart, our mind, and our soul can glorify you because of how much you love us. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you that though we were yet sinners, you died for us. Thank you that while we were in a lost, dying, and broken world that you came for us. And thank you, Jesus, that your love is a gift for all of us to trust. It's in your name.

Amen. Amen.

Would you stand with me? Listen, this morning, as we jump into this imitation time, I'm going to be standing over here with some other friends. And maybe today you need to give you your life to Jesus. You need to experience hi Love, his hope. Maybe today's your day to do that. We'd love to talk to you about what that looks like. Maybe today you just need somebody to pray over you or with you. Man, we'd love to do that. Maybe today you just got something going on in your life that you just need somebody to grab a hold of you today and encourage you. We would love to walk in that, to say yes to God's love. Let's sing together.

Follow Along with the Message

God’s Absolute Love

December 10, 2023

Luke 1:26–30
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.
Luke 1:31–33
31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
Luke 1:34
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
Luke 1:35–37
35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”

PRINCIPLE: God is not like man; He fulfills promises.

QUESTION: Is your faith at a point to where matters more than answering the call of God?

Luke 1:38
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
Luke 1:46–48
46 And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed.”
God’s Love…

1. Deeply knows of me, from the beginning to the end.

Luke 1:49
For the Mighty One has done great things for me — holy is his name.

2. Constantly proves His life-giving to me.

3. Richly extends His eternal to me.

Luke 1:50
His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.
Luke 1:51–53
51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. 52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.

4. Greatly rewards and lifts my heart.

5. Eternally keeps every He has made.

Luke 1:54–55
54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55 to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.”

QUESTION: Have I set out to myself, or is my soul magnifying the Lord and His saving love?

Luke 1:46–47
46 And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
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