Sermon in Ishpeming 25.03.2012

Let us thank and pray. We pray in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Dear Heavenly Father, we, Thy grace children, have come before Thy holy face, and before Thy holy word. Dear Father, we ask that Thou be with us present through Thy Spirit, that Thou would put Thy word into Thy servant's mouth, and that Thou would give us ears to hear and hearts to believe that which You caused to come forth through Thy Spirit.

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the gift of Thy dear Son, that Thou hast given him unto this world, and through him we have the hope of eternal life. Dear Father, we raise our hearts into thanksgiving unto Thee for the temporal blessings that Thou hast given us. Those things that we need to make this journey and this life have come from Thy goodness and from Thy love.

Dear Father, we, dear Father, thank Thee for Thy kingdom, that Thou hast given us a place here amongst the saints and children of God, and has caused us to believe Thy gospel message. Dear Father, we thank Thee for Thy grace.

Dear Father, we pray on their behalf. Those who have once believed, but departed into the ways of the darkness of this world. We pray for them, that together with us they might enjoy the fellowship of Thy kingdom, and most importantly, the hope of eternal life.

Dear Father, we enclose into our prayer those many intercessions that we personally have, those many unspoken thoughts that rise forth from our heart.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who have trespassed against us. And lead us not into temptation, and deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

We shall read a text that is appointed for this day, which is Mary's day. The text is found in the first chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke, verses 46 through 55. We read in Jesus' name:

And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things, and holy is his name. And his mercy is on them that fear him, from generation to generation. He hath showed strength with his arm. He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and hath exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent away empty. He hath helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spake unto our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever. Amen.

Today we recall the life and the calling of Mary, the mother of Jesus. And we have been given this very familiar text to cause us to again remember the most important events in her life. We read what we could call, or has been called, a hymn—the hymn of Mary. Or we could call it a song, or even a poem that she expressed to Elizabeth when she had gone to visit Elizabeth there in the country land that surrounded Jerusalem.

And we recall how, as she approached Elizabeth, Elizabeth had many kind words to say unto her concerning that child which she was carrying, the Lord Jesus. Elizabeth called to her, or addressed her as, "Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come unto me?" So Mary, we could say, responded or answered with the words of this text that we have read.

When I read the Old Testament passage from the first and second chapter of 1 Samuel, it related of the believing lady Hannah, who had waited for a child for a long time, and how it had been a source of trial for her that she received no child and had gone up to the temple to pray, where Eli was the priest. And we recall how God had compassion, or mercy upon her, and gave her that gift—that she was able to conceive a child and promised him to be a servant of God. That child was the prophet Samuel.

When she brought her son there to serve in the house of God under Samuel, or under Eli, she prayed a prayer. And if we had time, or if you so desired, you could read her prayer there at home from the second chapter. The words of that prayer are very similar to the words that Mary expressed unto Elizabeth. And it made me think that they were so similar in some of the verses or passages, perhaps we could even say stanzas, that it is possible that Mary here sang an ancient song that the believers had composed that recalled those difficult times that Hannah had experienced.

And so when she answered Elizabeth, she answered with many of those same thoughts and, as mentioned, perhaps even words of a song or hymn.

But when we think of Mary, we think of one who was, of course, very humble in her origins, very lowly in her life as far as the things of this life are concerned. But she was a believing lady, a person who trusted in God. And I think that that is the message that her life story gives unto us, and especially this part of it, how she believed God.

When the angel Gabriel came unto her, we recall how she listened to that message, that salutation of Gabriel, which contained the promise that she would become the earthly mother of the Lord Jesus. And she simply answered that, "Be it unto me according to thy word." We could say she somewhat protested, and in a very mild way, that she knows not a man. But when she heard the explanation of Gabriel that the Holy Spirit would descend on her and she would conceive in that way, which is to our mind impossible and has never been before or after, yet she responded with those words of faith, "Be it unto me according to thy word."

It would be good that we could say we are always like Mary in that respect. But we know we experience the warfare of faith, of flesh against the spirit, and spirit against the flesh, of our carnal mind against the word of God. And it is that that we find to be life as a child of God in God's kingdom.

I was thinking also in coming to the services today that thinking somewhat of the Old Testament prophets and how many of them began their sermon, we could say, or they began to write the prophecies that have been preserved for us with that kind of salutation that these words are from God. And so then they wrote to the people of their time, of Israel, who had been disobedient. And we know that few were those that believed that those words were the words of God. Few were the people that believed that the person that spoke those words were the messengers of God.

And sometimes we could be that way. At least I can, as a servant of God, but yet many times doubting that, am I really a servant of God? And does God really speak through one who is as corrupt and as I am? And it could be that way with any or each of you that when you hear the word of God, you could wonder, is that from God or is that the word of man? And that is, unfortunately, the way that we are sometimes also when we experience this warfare of our carnality against the spiritual portion of the spirit of God within us.

But yet, we have also experienced in God's kingdom when the gospel has been preached unto us, when we have received those good tidings into our heart, and we have felt that that is the good message that has come from Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, and it has been, it has felt that we have been uplifted and refreshed by that very core of the gospel.

There are so many things that we can read and study concerning even the word of God, but it always seems to boil down to that very core of the gospel: the forgiveness of sins. And that is what sustains us when we are able to believe that gospel.

When we think further about Mary's speech, her salutation, we can almost think that she was rejoicing as was Elizabeth, that their hearts were very much full of joy and they understood at that moment at least that God's grace had been given to them and that it also had been given to or offered unto all people.

I'm sure that Mary, even though she was not married at this time but was engaged to Joseph, and of course there were all of those issues that would have presented themselves to that, she was very happy even as a human to be the future mother of a child. And yet, we would have to also say that she must have been able to comprehend that the child that she carried was her own Lord and Savior and that he was intended for her personally but also intended for all people.

So these would have made joy come forth in her heart to express the happiness that she had and to remember in such a way as she did that she, as a handmaiden of low estate as she expressed, was able to do this service unto the Heavenly Father and that others would remember her in the generations that would follow.

Of course, we know that some faiths, even Christian faiths, have made of Mary kind of an idol. But we remember Mary as a child of God, as one who herself lived by and was saved by grace. And that is what we recall of her—that she was blessed, that she was able to believe that word of the angel that was spoken unto her, that this would be her lot and her duty.

Elizabeth expressed this in a verse that we did not read. She says of Mary, "And blessed is she that believed, for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord."

So again, the emphasis is on faith and on personal faith. But we know that God is the one that gives that gift of faith unto us. It is not something that we have been able to take for ourselves or keep for ourselves. But when we believe the word of God to put away sin as sin attaches to travel here with a good conscience before man and God and to trust in the power of the gospel, then we are able to be as she is and understand, although in part, the great gift that God has given unto us.

He that is mighty hath done to me great things, and holy is his name.

We know that Mary here specifically spoke about her duty and her lot but also her personal calling and faith. But we could also relate that to her words, "That he that hath done great things unto me," that speaks of our life too, of all God has called us to be his children, and he has maintained or protected and kept us here in his kingdom. This is a great thing, although at times we lose sight of it and we forget what it means to be a child of God and we become overly concerned with the things of this life and the cares of this life.

Mary also in her hymn related that he has showed 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. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty.

So we see how she kind of contrasts two opposites: the proud and the humble, the mighty and the weak, the poor and the rich. And the rich, and we of course know that even in this, we could say, everyday world, that there are examples of those that in low stations of life have become leaders and kings and so on and so forth. But I think for us as believers she is speaking of the matter of the heart—those that are proud of heart and those that are humble in heart, those that are mighty in their own thoughts and themselves, and those that are weak and of low degree, those that find nourishment in the word of God and those that do not.

For she says, "He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent away empty."

I personally have in a very carnal way sometimes struggled when I have been at the services of God's children. Sometimes I have wondered, is it so simple of a gospel? And I have wondered, is it needful that we hear these same words time and time again? And maybe because my memory is good, and I can almost anticipate what one brother or another can say and the words that can be used, and doubts have sometimes come because of that.

But it is also the same in my own self. And I think of things that have had meaning in my life and certain texts and certain situations come back to mine time and time again, and they become almost like the center of the proclamation of the word.

But we know that the gospel message is very simple. It is very straightforward. It always speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ. It always speaks of what He has done for us in His coming into this world and His defeat of sin and death and hell.

So that is the way that God comes unto us when He comes up to us through the message of His word, through the proclamation of the gospel. And those that are hungry are filled in a way that we can understand only spiritually, and those that are proud must go away having received nothing.

These are words which Hannah also, the mother of Samuel, related in her thoughts and her prayer unto God.

And I think that it is that way in life when we have been tried in some special way, when we have experienced difficulty and adversity, and when God comes unto us in a way that we are comforted, we are uplifted, that then we are happy with anything that comes from the source of the bread of life, from those little crumbs of grace and those little helps that come in our life that we are nourished by even a little bit, and we are encouraged in our life of faith to continue with those crumbs that fall from the rich man's table.

We also, even in thinking of that, remember that passage where the Syrophoenician woman cried after Jesus that something could be given to her, and He seemed for a time to ignore her. But yet she continued to cry after Him, and He said that it is not right that the food of the children would be given unto the dogs. Although that may be a more difficult translation, but "the food of the children would be given to puppies" is the way that it is now translated.

But it gives us that kind of everyday example for us that we have those pets that we have had or sometimes have had that they come and they whine and they want that the master would give them something from the table to eat. And they perhaps in this way Jesus was comparing one who begged for grace as one who is like one of these puppies or pets that wanted something, even small, that they could be satisfied with from the table of grace, some promise, something to nourish or uplift them.

And so it is for the child of God that they live off those morsels of the bread of life that come our way from time to time when we are able to be uplifted and strengthened.

So it is good to be at the grace table of the Lord and Savior and of the Heavenly Father and to be comforted with that comfort of the gospel and to know that our sins are forgiven in Jesus' name and blood and that it does pay to believe.

So dear brothers and sisters, that promise belongs to each one of you, that promise of the forgiveness of sins, those grace morsels are yours also as well as mine. Uplift your hearts to believe the forgiveness of all sins and all errors of the way forgiven in Jesus' name and blood.

And I, as a doubting and weak servant and brother in faith, need to hear that gospel for myself and ask that can I believe also? I promise to believe in Jesus' name. Amen.

Let us unite our hearts into the closing benediction:

The Lord bless us and keep us; the Lord make his face shine upon us and be gracious unto us; the Lord lift up his countenance upon us and give us peace, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.