The Struggle - Romans 7 and 8 - March 6, 2022

Sermon by Elder Joel Brown 

The Struggle – From Genesis to Regeneration to Glory

Good morning! I am excited to dive into the Word with you all today. My prayer is that it will bring the light of the Gospel to those who are lost in sin and a renewed hope to all of us who still struggle against it. We're going to zoom out to see the big picture of the human condition, then observe the various transformations that take place throughout the life of a believer in Christ, and finally zoom in to focus on the heart of the Christian struggle. I believe that understanding our history and the different parts at play will better equip us in the fight and will give us hope for victory both now in our daily lives and for the final victory in eternity.

My goal today is to look at what Paul has to say about this in Romans chapters 7-8, which is a big bite all on its own, but as we will see, Romans is one big run on sentence which needs to be understood as a whole, and then the whole of Romans can only be understood in the context of the rest of Scripture. 

Before we get started, Let's Pray

If you were to scan through Romans, you would see that most of the chapters begin with a phrase that contains the word “then” or “therefore”. So what do we have to do? We have to keep going backwards to see what happened before and what the “therefore” is there for! So I want to briefly summarize Romans 1-6 in a minute, but first we need to go back just a little farther. Back to Genesis, the creation and the fall.

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth...” Most of us know the story. In 6 days, all of creation was spoken into existence by the Word of God, which is Jesus, the Son. In the book of John it says, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...by Him and through Him all things were created in heaven and on earth.” So, out of nothing came light and darkness, the Heavens, land and sea, vegetation and trees, the sun, moon and stars, and all the living creatures to inhabit the sky, the sea, and the land. All of this He called good! Then last of all God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”

I think that is so special! I mean, the creation of the world part is mind blowing and all, but to be created in the image of our Creator! To have His likeness! He didn't do that for any other part of creation, which He created out of nothing. He purposefully made us to resemble Himself, and He did that in part by giving us a spirit. Ecclesiastes 12:7 sheds light on this by describing what happens to us when we die. “...and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” God gave us each a unique spirit in addition to our flesh, which gives us an awareness of things beyond this material world. We have the ability to know our Creator! 

Another key element of being an image-bearer of God is that He has inscribed His moral law on the hearts of all humans. This gives us the ability to distinguish between right and wrong and points us to God’s perfect standard. Paul alludes to this fact in Romans 2:14. He says that when the gentiles “by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law”. The words “by nature” point to how they were created in the image of God and intuitively know God’s laws. How is this possible? Because, as in verse 15, “They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts.” 

So, God created Man in His image. Male and female He created them. And He called them “Very good.” And they were. By nature, at their creation, Adam and Eve were sinless. They were free to enjoy walking in the glory of God's presence and their hearts’ desires were for Him. They had no knowledge or awareness of sin. They were perfectly happy and content with what God gave them.

We read about the first commandment God ever made to man in chapter 2 of Genesis. He said, “You may surely eat of every tree of the Garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” This was as if to say, “I know what is good and what is evil and I desire to spare you from the burden of that knowledge. Trust me and obey this commandment and you will have life eternal, but if you do not, you will get what you desire and it will kill you.” It was a good law intended for blessing and initially there was no indication that they would want to disobey.

But we know what happened next. The Fall. In Genesis 3:1-7 it describes how Satan craftily distorted God’s words to tempt Adam and Eve to distrust God’s motives. They were deceived by the sinful influence of Satan and Adam and Eve coveted what God told them they could not have. They chose to not trust God’s plan for them, and ultimately made the choice which corrupted the goodness of their nature. Man's nature became totally depraved, making him unable to please God and enslaved to sin.

From then on humanity was burdened with this problem of sin. It took what was holy and righteous and good, and permanently tainted it. Humanity was still made in the image of God, but it no longer perfectly reflected Him anymore. And the morality that was written on their hearts became clouded, causing everyone to do what was right “in his own eyes” and not in the eyes of God.

This is why humanity needed a Savior. It needed intervention. It needed regeneration.

The fallen human condition sets the stage for the gospel. You can't appreciate the good news without fully understanding the bad news. Which brings us back to Romans. I want to now provide a brief summary of Romans 1-6 to give the context we need to understand 7-8. So here we go!

Paul's aim in Romans was to preach the gospel which was the good news of salvation to everyone who receives it by faith. God can be and is known by man because He has revealed Himself through creation and man is without excuse. But man suppresses the truth about God because of unrighteousness and his darkened heart. Choosing instead to desire the things of the flesh rather than the things of God.

 All people are held accountable to God by His law, which He has written on their hearts, and the doers of the law will be justified, but the wrath of God is reserved for those who sin under it. The bad news is that no one is righteous, not even one. All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.

Obedience to the law is a matter of the heart, which means inward reform is needed and not merely outward change in behavior or appearance. Due to our sinfulness, the law is not able to save us, but serves to reveal our unrighteousness.

The good news is that the law also points to the one who is righteous, Jesus Christ and that through faith in Him we can be justified and reconciled to God. This is a gracious gift that was purchased for us by the blood of Jesus and can only be received by faith alone. Because of this, we have no grounds for boasting in ourselves, but only in Him.

In the same way, Abraham’s obedience to the law didn’t earn his righteousness, rather his faith in God’s promise, which came first, was counted to him as righteousness. This was essential for the promise to be guaranteed to all his offspring (including us), because it must rest solely on God’s grace, and not on the law. 

So, therefore our faith is also counted to us as righteousness when we believe that God is able to do what he said he would do through Jesus.

 Now we rejoice in the hope of future glory, but we also rejoice in our current struggle with sin because through it we are being further transformed by the Holy Spirit. Should we continue to sin now that we have grace? No! Jesus died and was raised in order that our bondage to our sin might be put to death and that we might walk in newness of life. This is our regeneration. Our second birth. We are no longer spiritually dead, but alive to God. We are no longer slaves to sin, which leads to death, but are free to obey a new Master who gives eternal life. Free to serve in the new way of the Spirit.

Hallelujah! This is the Gospel. I pray that there are people listening today who heard this good news and found salvation from their sins and can join with us in the Spirit’s renewal.

As it says in 2 Corinthians 3:15–18:

“15 Yes, to this day whenever Moses [the law] is read a veil lies over their hearts. 16 But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

Well, we finally arrived at chapter 7. This is where “the struggle” gets real. But with all of this wonderful truth still fresh in our minds, let's dive in. I am going to start by reading verses 7-12, and as I do, try to imagine them in the context of Adam after the fall.

“What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.”

Could you hear Adam possibly saying these words? Adam had no consciousness of sin in the garden before God commanded not to eat of the tree. But as soon as the commandment came, temptation was quick to follow. In their case though, not being by nature sinful, the influence of sin came externally through the tempter – Satan. As Eve said in Genesis 3:13, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

The commandment that God had given promised life, but when sin came alive in them it proved to be death, just as God had warned. What was holy and righteous and good in them had died.

Paul knew the story of Adam and the Fall, of course, and he saw the same story play out throughout the history of our race, including himself. Paul wanted to be sure that his readers understood, though, that it wasn't the law itself that brought about death, if that were the case God would have been the source. But in reality, it was sin that produced death through the law.

Now at last, we have arrived at the very heart of what I wanted to share today. Let's continue reading. Romans 7:14-25,

“14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. 15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.”

Paul is being vulnerable here, he is sharing something personal. He probably knew that the Christians reading his words would be able to relate to this conflict. Can you relate? I know I can. He wanted them to know that they were not alone, and that it is a law, a reality, to go through this. It is common across all believers.

Paul used the word “law” in this passage many times, but they have different meanings and connotations. Obviously the “law of God” is the one we are to obey, the one written on our hearts. But when he says, “I find it to be a law”, it is the same way the word is used in the “law of gravity”. It is a fact, a reality, something that is proven. And then there is the war between the “law of my mind” (which is our conscience) and the “law of sin” (which is our fallen nature).

This tension we all feel, this struggling, is a direct result of the “already, but not yet” state of being a believer. We are already justified by the blood of Jesus, already reconciled to God the Father, and already regenerated by the indwelling of His Spirit, but we are not yet glorified in our flesh. The battle with the desires of our sinful flesh still rages on. We are not yet freed from sin's influence, but thank God we are free to struggle!

I think that too often we get stuck in the mire. We feel discouraged with our struggle against sin, and it feels hopeless, like we are always failing. Paul echoes this frustration by exclaiming in verse 24, “24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" But he doesn't stop there. He brings his focus back onto the One who can. “25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Paul wanted his readers to have hope. And that's why he shares this most amazingly encouraging truth in Romans 8,

“8 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

No condemnation! We must let those words change our perspective of ourselves. Yes, we still sin, but by His grace we are released from its bondage and need not fear it's wages. What God has required of us by His law, He has fulfilled in us through Jesus! He began the work, and He will finish it!  And so now our focus needs to shift from the things of the flesh to the things of the Spirit. Let's not dwell on our sinfulness and feel condemned or even doubtful of our salvation (this is Satan's weapon against the believer), but instead let’s be convicted of sin and let that motivate us to constantly strive in the Spirit for righteousness.

Like Paul said, “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means!” So obviously our aim is righteousness. We must struggle. And the Spirit is here to help! He has opened our eyes to the truth. He convicts us of sin and causes repentance. He is our seal of salvation. He regenerates our hearts and renews the image of God in us. He is continually sanctifying us to be more Christ-like. He unveils our clouded morality and quickens our conscience. He is our guide. He enables us to understand the Word of God and reveals to us what is the will of God. He assists and intercedes for us in prayer. He gives us strength in our weakness. He frees us to struggle! Amen!

Paul completes his encouragement in verses 14-25 by reminding his reader of their hope for future glory,

“14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”

Amen! This is our hope. This is our future. The struggles and sufferings in this life will cease, the redemption of our sinful flesh and the glory will be eternal! 

But while we wait, remember, our struggle against sin is not a curse, it is a gift of grace, something we did not have the ability to do before we were saved and that there is no condemnation in Christ when we still fail in our own strength. God doesn't leave us to do it on our own! His own Spirit dwells in us to motivate and empower our efforts and leads us through the knowledge of His Word which informs our conscious. He told us to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves. With His help we can win the daily battles until at last we are glorified with Him in heaven. Paul says at the end of Chapter 8 that in all these things we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus our Lord and nothing will separate us from His love. Be encouraged, hope in Jesus, draw strength from His Spirit, and struggle while he completes the work He began in you, from one degree of glory to another.

Mary's Song - Luke 1:46-56 - February 27, 2022

 Luke 1:46-56 Mary’s Song

Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter one, verse 46, page 856 in the pew Bibles.

We are picking up where we left off with Mary and Elizabeth in the home of Zechariah and Elizabeth in the hill country of Judah. If you remember from last week, after the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and announced the good news to her that she would bear a Son by the Holy Spirit even though she was a virgin, she went to see her relative Elizabeth who was the mother of John the Baptist.

When Mary arrived, the baby in Elizabeth’s belly jumped for joy and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke a wonderful blessing to Mary and we pick up in verse 46 with Mary’s response.

46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; 52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” 

56 And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.

Let’s pray.

The Catholic church makes much of Mary, too much in fact. Yet they completely ignore Mary’s own thoughts about herself and God’s work in and through her. There is a lot we can learn through Mary’s song here in Luke one.

You may have heard this song of Mary called “the Magnificat.” In fact, the pew Bibles have this passage labeled that. “Magnificat,” is just the first word in this passage in Latin, the word we have here translated, “magnifies.”

The other curiosity we have here is that this is a song even though the text doesn’t say: “And Mary sang,” it says, “And Mary said”… The scholars believe that this was a song based on the original language’s metre and potential rhyming. Any time you see a section printed out this way in the Bible it means that the scholars believed that it may very well have been a song. I’m going to treat it that way anyway.

Mary’s song has three verses all praising the mindfulness, the might, and the mercy of God. And each verse Mary focuses on a different group of people that have experienced those three attributes of God, herself, the faithful, and the nation of Israel.

So let’s look at the three verses of Mary’s song.

First, in verses 46-49a, Mary sings of God’s mindfulness, might, and mercy on herself.

  46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me,

The English language is always evolving, and that can get really annoying when you’re trying to translate the Bible from a language with set rules that don’t change into the messy form of always changing, hard to pin down, gobblety-gook that we speak.

We often read the words in the Bible, “soul,” and, “spirit,” and, “mind,” and, “spirit,” and kind of lump theme together in the same category and assign them all the same meaning, as if the author was just trying to express the same thought in multiple different ways for emphasis. 

And when we do that we are wrong. When we do that we miss out on some of the richness and depth of meaning that is expressed just because we are lazy, and then we have the nerve to say that reading the Bible is boring.

When Mary says, “My soul magnifies the Lord,” she is speaking of the depth and center of her feelings, as if she is saying, “my very emotions praise the greatness of the Lord.”

And then she sings, “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior…” If the soul encompasses how we feel, the spirit, as Mary uses it, is how we think. “All of my thoughts experience great joy and gladness because of God my Deliverer, the source of eternal salvation.”

Mary was expressing the Great Commandment, found in Deuteronomy 6:5, and later quoted by Jesus in Matthew 22:37, loving the Lord her God with all her heart, soul, mind, and strength. 

“My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me,

You’ll notice that Mary doesn’t say a word about what she has done to deserve the honor that was hers, she only praises the work of God the Father.

She points out her humble estate, her low estate, just a nobody from nowhere, and in doing so contrasts her lowness to God’s excellence and her unworthiness to God’s grace.

I think it’s important to point out again the difference between mercy and grace. These words are often used interchangeably, mostly because we need them to rhyme in our songs, but they don’t mean the same thing.

Simply put, grace is getting something that we do not deserve. We do not deserve God’s love because we are sinners and have fallen short of His glory, but by His grace He loved us enough to send His only Son Jesus for us.

Mercy, on the other hand, is NOT getting what we DO deserve. We deserve God’s wrath because of our sin, we deserve to be destroyed, but, in His mercy He withholds His wrath until the judgment so that people may come to faith in Jesus and be forgiven.

By calling herself low, Mary is displaying God’s grace, she doesn’t deserve the honor that He bestowed on her. This isn’t false humility, this is honesty.

In His mercy God doesn’t exercise His wrath, instead He exercises His blessing, a mercy that will be remembered forever as people forever will call Mary blessed.

Verse 49a ends the first verse of Mary’s song, praising the Lord in His grace and power for doing great things for her. The word translated, “great,” can also be translated, “surprising.” I’m sure Mary was surprised at what the Lord was doing, and how often are we surprised when God does exactly what He said He would do?

Verse 49b starts the second verse of Mary’s song, where she celebrates the power and judgments, and mercy of God in more general terms, she moves on from God’s work in herself to God’s work for the faithful.

and holy is his name. 50 And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; 52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.

Holy is His Name.

It is an unfortunate tragedy that the Name of the Lord has been brought so low in our day, the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ used as a curse word, and calling on the Name of God gets thrown around like garbage.

His Name is holy. His Name is entitled to the highest reverence because He is entitled to the highest reverence.

And His mercy is for those who fear Him from generation to generation. God’s mercy is perpetual. John Calvin said, “He will always be like Himself.” I love that, never failing, never changing, always merciful to those who fear Him.

But what does it mean to fear God? This is not fear that’s associated with terror or fright, this is profound reverence and awe and respect. This is the basis of godliness and religion, and it all finds its basis in faith.

His mercy is perpetual for those who have faith in Him. His mercy, not getting what we do deserve, also known as eternal destruction, is reserved for those, by God’s grace, fear Him. 

This isn’t a result of nationality or birthright, as is the belief of some, but on the basis of grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; 52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.

God the father has performed miracles by His own power, that is what Mary means by “showing the strength of His arm.” God has performed miracles specifically in and through and on behalf of the lowly contrary to the estimation of the proud, and the mighty, and the rich.

God’s kingdom is an upside down kingdom. Though Jesus is God He humbled Himself and took on the form of a servant, the Son of man had no place to lay His head, no pillow, no bed, no palace. 

He chose fisherman, and tax collectors, and persecutors to be His Disciples and through them changed the world.

The world’s system exalts the powerful and privileged, the proud, the mighty, the rich,but God’s sytem is not regulated by man’s standards.

Calvin wrote, “The great, and rich, and powerful, lifted up by their abundance, ascribe all the praise to themselves, and leave nothing to God. We ought therefore to be scrupulously on our guard against being carried away by prosperity, and against a vain satisfaction of the flesh lest God suddenly deprive us of what we enjoy.”

Paul also wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:26-31,

26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Mary’s final verse praises the Father for His faithfulness to His promise to Israel.

54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” 

In His mercy God preserved Israel as He promised. Mary is referencing God’s promise to Abraham from Genesis 12:1-3.

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

In remembrance of His mercy God helped His servant Israel. The word translated, “helped,” means to provide what is needed. What Israel needed was a Savior and God supplied one in His only begotten Son, Jesus.

That same Savior who was sent by God to help Israel was also sent for us that whoever would believe in Him would not perish but would have everlasting life.

“My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; 52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” 

Amen.

The Spirit Speaks - Luke 1:39-45 - February 20, 2022

 Luke 1:39-45 The Spirit Speaks

Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter one, verse 39, page 856 in the pew Bibles.

Last week we left Mary having just been visited by the angel Gabriel who told her the good news that she would bear a Son by the Holy Spirit. He also told her that her relative Elizabeth in her old age had also conceived a son and was in her sixth month even though she was previously barren.

So Mary traveled from Nazareth to see her relative Elizabeth and that is where we will pick up in verse 39.

39 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, 40 and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

Let’s pray.

I’m inclined to think that the Holy Spirit conceived the Lord Jesus in Mary’s womb right in the middle of verse 38: And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

It’s not really that important to have an opinion on this but I think that when Mary said, “Behold I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word,” it happened according to his word and then the angel departed from her.

Regardless of your opinion on the subject, within the next few days she went from Nazareth to a village in the hill country of Judah. And like most details in Scripture, there is some debate among the scholars of whether Luke , rather uncharacteristically, didn’t name the village in the hill country of Judah or if he actually meant the village in the hill country called Jutta.

There was, and still is, a village called Jutta in the hill country of Judah that was one of the cities of the Levites described in the Old Testament. Is this detail important? Maybe not, but at least allow, this detail to inform you that there is a lot of detail that we can learn in and about Scripture that may not necessarily be on the surface but that can definitely deepen our understanding of Scripture if we will just take the opportunity to look.

So, regardless of the name of the town that Zechariah and Elizabeth lived in in Judah, Mary went with haste to visit Elizabeth.

Now, just by way of reminder, Mary didn’t have email. She didn’t have Facebook. No phone, no texts, no way of letting Elizabeth know, in that short span of time, what had happened to her and that she should expect a visit from her in a few days.

Mary traveled on foot the roughly 60-70 miles from Nazareth to see her relative Elizabeth.

And when she arrived, Mary greeted Elizabeth, and that’s when things get interesting.

39 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, 40 and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. 

Who’s the baby that Elizabeth is carrying? John the Baptist. Remember what the angel Gabriel said about him back in verse 15, …he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.

Now I want to be clear, for the four hundred years prior to this, it’s not that the Lord was not active, He kept the planet spinning and He kept people’s hearts beating and their atoms from flying apart. What He hadn’t done was spoken through a prophet. This encounter was taking place at the end of four hundred years of prophetic silence.

Throughout the Old Testament the Lord spoke to His people through the mouths of prophets who were filled with the Holy Spirit, but they were only filled temporarily. It wasn’t until the Day of Pentecost that the Holy Spirit fell on all the believers in Jesus and dwelt within them. Before that day the Holy Spirit only filled people for specific tasks at specific times, except for John the Baptist.

So four hundred years of prophetic silence were finally ended with little unborn baby John the Baptist, full of the Spirit, jumping for joy in his mother’s womb at the arrival of Messiah. Microscopic Messiah in His own mother’s womb.

But John wasn’t the only one filled with the Spirit that day. Let’s consider Elizabeth’s response.

And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

Isn’t it wonderful that after four hundred years of prophetic silence the first person to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to speak was a woman? I don’t think that’s insignificant. 

In fact, Galatians 3:27-28 says: 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

That’s a discussion for another time, but one worth having. 

Elizabeth didn’t know that Mary was pregnant, she didn’t know Mary was coming to visit. But the Holy Spirit did and revealed it to her. And since it was the Lord speaking through her it was a beautiful and perfect response to the Lord’s work in Mary’s life, one of blessings, and humility, and joy.

Far too often we respond in our hearts to the blessings in other people’s lives with envy not with sincere praise. We need to be mindful of how we respond to the movement of the Lord on other people’s lives, praising Him for His grace and mercy instead of subtly being jealous.

Elizabeth gives us the second phrase of what would later become the “Hail Mary,” “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!”

The word translated, “blessed,” both times, means to be a recipient of God’s favor. This is important to know because our translators used the word blessed here three times in this passage but the Greek words aren’t all the same. The first two “blessed’s” are from the Greek word eulogeo, where we get our word “eulogy” which means “to tell of blessings.” The third, “blessed,” is from the Greek word, makarios, which means “happy.”

So Elizabeth’s response begins with blessings because of God’s favor, not only on Mary but on the world, and that leads to the second theme of her response, humility.

 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

Through the Holy Spirit it was revealed Elizabeth, and confirmed to Mary, that Mary’s child was the long awaited Messiah.

For six months Elizabeth knew that the Day of the Lord was coming. No doubt Zechariah had filled her in on the details of the angel’s visit and his message, even if he had to do it in writing. But in her humility she didn’t count herself worthy to have the Lord’s mother grace her with her presence.

Again, it’s important to note the details here. When Elizabeth uses the word, “Lord,” she didn’t use a word that would be used of just any human ruler like we hear the words, “my lord,” used on tv and in movies. Elizabeth used the title for God and Christ, she was proclaiming in the Spirit that Mary carried the Messiah and she was humbled by the blessing.

Lastly, both Elizabeth and John responded with joy.

44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

There’s our third, “blessed,” only this time the Greek word means, “happy.” 

Baby John is jumping for joy, and in her joy Elizabeth declares the joy of she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.

We have a tendency to arrange things into hierarchies, to arrange things in order of our perception of importance. Who is more important in this account, Elizabeth or Mary? 

While they should be honored for their service to the Lord and their humble submission to His plan, they aren’t any different. 

They were both sinners, they both needed to be redeemed by faith in Jesus Christ. 

They were both people that God the Father chose to use to accomplish His purposes in the world. 

In that way, they were no different from each other and they are no different than us. 

Mary and Elizabeth only had the Word of the Lord to go on, same as us. 

Like them, we are all sinners in need of God’s grace and forgiveness that is only available through faith in Jesus Christ, and like them, all we have is the Word of the Lord to go on, but we also get the Spirit of the Lord to guide and empower us to follow the Word and thus follow the Lord.

Amen.