A Response Fit For a King

Intro

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Pray

Championship reaction, or maybe you’ve been somewhere that you’ve met a celebrity. How do people reacted?

The response of people is fitting for the occasion or the person.

The Good News

Good News For Who?

Bad News For Who?

The Fitting Response to the Good News

The Good News

God hasn’t forgotten his covenant. The king is here!

There were about 400 years of silence, as far as we know, from the end of Malachi and the events that we have read about so far in Luke. Certainly, the Jews had the OT scriptures, and God’s promises to Abraham and David and the Israelites had come back from exile about 400 years earlier, but they hadn’t heard from God and they had no king.

At least some of them had to be thinking, “did God forget about us? I know God said that, but where is he? Our rebellion against him was great. Maybe this is how things are going to be.”

And then we come to the events Luke has recorded and he says that John the Baptist is coming in the Spirit of the prophet Elijah to prepare the way of the Lord just like Malachi had promised, “to make ready for the Lord a people prepared” (1:17).

Then we saw last week the good news of the King—the long awaited- and promised-successor to the throne of David, who will rule forever over a kingdom that endures forever (1:33).

And now, Elizabeth is pregnant with the herald of the king, and Mary is pregnant with the King. Mary highlights what this means for God’s people at the end of her hymn.

Luke 1:54–55 ESV

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.”

Now notice she isn’t just talking about herself, but Israel, God’s people. What has God done for his people? Even though he was silent for 400 years in response to their rebellion, he has not forgotten his promise to be merciful to them.

This recalls Micah 7:18-20

Micah 7:18–20 ESV

18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. 19 He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. 20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.

What’s the news? God hasn’t forgotten to do what he had promised to do for his people from long ago! God has remembered his promise of mercy to his people!

Pardoned iniquity

Passing over transgressions

having compassion on us

Treading our iniquities under the feet of Jesus.

Casting our sins into the depths of the sea, showing the love he promised from the days of old.

“As the sea covers great rocks, so God’s covenant mercy covers our great sins.”—Watson

AMEN! That’s good news!

God didn’t forget his promise then and he hasn’t forgotten his promise now for you if you are his.

When you’re tempted to think that God hasn’t shown up for you lately (in battling our sin and our suffering), remember that if God never blessed you again as long as you lived you would still have every reason in the world to keep praising him with every breath you are given.

You see, we forget, but God doesn’t forget. We forget the magnitude of what God has done for us in Christ. But let us not forget to trust the God who doesn’t forget his promise to have mercy on us in Jesus Christ!

Amen?!

Good News For Who?

The Humblest Among Us (big category)

For Those Who Fear Him/Have Faith

Luke 1:50 ESV

50 And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.

Psalm 103:11 ESV

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;

Fear here means reverence to God or awe of God. It means to trust God, to be completely devoted to him and his will while recognizing the consequences of not fearing him…judgment, bad things happening.

Those Who Acknowledge Their Need for Him

Like Mary who acknowledges that she needs a Savior and that God is her Savior (1:47).

Do you fear God? Do you acknowledge your need for a savior? ...God has not forgotten to be merciful to you.

For the youngest to the oldest

Luke 1:41 (ESV)

41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb.

She said that the baby in the womb leaped for joy (1:44). 1:36 says that Elizabeth was in her sixth month of pregnancy and Mary went with haste to see her. So Elizabeth is, in our modern terms, 24–28 weeks pregnant give or take depending on where in the sixth month and Mary’s travel time.

And this baby, John the Baptist, in the womb at a stage where many in our society would not even considered them a person, responds to the presence of his Savior King by leaping for joy in the womb!

We also saw Elizabeth respond, she who was barren and advanced in years (1:7). This good news is for her as well.

So whether you are the oldest in the room or the youngest, if you trust in Christ...God has not forgotten to be merciful to you.

For Those Who Have Been Reproached or Disgraced

Like Elizabeth was for being barren and advanced in years (1:25).

Maybe you’ve had a miscarriage, been divorced, maybe you’re in recovery, anything that you could think of that someone in society could look at you like you less than or an outcast… God has not forgotten to be merciful to you.

For the Nobodies

Like Mary, a young teenager peasant, maybe not known by many outside of her family. God knew her. God noticed her.

God notices the nobodies.…God has not forgotten to be merciful to you.

God promises to remember his mercy to the humblest among us, to those who fear him, and who acknowledge their need for him.

Bad News For Who?

Luke 1:51–53 (ESV)

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

53 and the rich he has sent away empty.

Proverbs 3:34 ESV

34 Toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor.

Do you mock God? Do you not acknowledge him and give glory to him as your Creator, your maker, and give thanks to him for your life and breath and everything? If you mock God, he will mock you, and that is not a spot you want to be in.

Are you proud in heart? Self-sufficient? Thinking that you can do just whatever you want to do and ignore God? Have you spent yourself to be rich in this world but are bankrupt in spiritual things?

All of the good news above us not good news for you if you are not God’s people. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

Humble yourself before God. Recognize your humble estate before King Jesus, to God whom you will give an account for every deed done in the body.

Hebrews 9:27 ESV

27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

The Fitting Response to The Good News

It is sin not to rejoice in a fitting manner.

“Let me tell you, it is a sin not to rejoice. You disparage your Husband, Christ? When a wife is always sighing and weeping, what will others day? ‘This woman has a bad husband.” Is this the fruit of Christ’s love to you, to reflect dishonor upon Him? A melancholy spouse sadden’s Christ’s heart. I do not deny that Christian’s should grieve for sins of daily occurrence, but to be always weeping (as if they mourned without hope) is dishonorable to the marriage relationship. ‘Rejoice in the Lord always’ (Phil 4:4). Rejoicing brings credit to your husband. Christ loves a cheerful bride, and indeed the very purpose of God’s making us sad is to make us rejoice. We sow in tears, so that we may reap joy. The excessive sadness and contrition of the godly will male others afraid to embrace Christ. They will begin to question whether their is satisfactory joy in religion which is claimed. Oh, you saints of God, do not forgot consolation; let others see that you do not repent of your choice. It is joy that puts liveliness and activity into a Christian: ‘the joy of the Lord is your strength (Neh 8:10). The soul is swiftest in duty when it is carried on the wings of joy.”—Watson

Another way to say this is, “Do we always worship God as we should? Do you always worship God as you should?” Well, no, none of us do. And that requires repentance.

These aren’t the only fitting ways to worship God, but they are certainly commendable examples of what it looks like to encounter King Jesus and the salvation wrought by him.

John the Baptist

We see three people respond to the good news of God sending the Savior King in this passage.

One is John the Baptist in the womb which we have already talked about. He somehow grasped the significance of being in the presence of his Savior and leaped for joy! Now, the word used for joy here isn’t the typical one used in the NT. This word means exultation, or extreme joy, mega joy, the same word that Mary uses for herself below. This wasn’t just some uncomfortable kick that took her breath away or made her had to go to the bathroom. NO! He must have been going nuts in there.

Elizabeth

Luke 1:42 ESV

42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

Elizabeth, in sensing that the Messiah was in Mary’s womb called out with a great shout. Elizabeth knew the promise about her son, that he would be the one “to make ready for the people a Lord prepared.” She now recognizes, somehow because of the elated response of her baby in her womb, that the Messiah is there and she can’t help but yell about it!

Do that in service! When you encounter the Lord in his word, or in a sermon, or in song, if you see more clearly and sweetly the Savior, let it be known with your voice! Tell someone about it! Give an Amen or a Praise God!

Is he not worthy of it? If he was worthy of it in the womb where Elizabeth couldn’t even see him, how much more worthy now that he lived the perfect life we couldn’t live, suffered and died the death that we deserved for our sin in our place on the cross, rose from the dead, actually rose from the dead, and ascended to heaven where he rules and intercedes for us until our last breath or he comes again?

Mary

Luke 1:46–49 ESV

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.

She Boasts in the Lord’s Name

Mary says that her soul magnifies, or praises the Lord as great. What she isn’t doing here is taking a magnifying glass and trying to zoom in on one little aspect of God and to talk about that. Rather, she is saying that from the very depths of her being she praising the greatest and majesty of God!

She Rejoices in God’s Salvation

Verse 47, she says, here’s that word for mega, or extreme joy again: that her spirit exults or is extremely joyful in God her Savior.

Why? Because God knows who she is and has acted and done mighty things for her, most importantly, not forgetting his promise of mercy toward his people and sending his promised king.

Psalm 71:19 ESV

19 Your righteousness, O God, reaches the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you?

So How Will You Respond to the Good News Today?

God has remembered his promise of old, his promise of mercy toward his people, and he has sent Jesus, the Savior, the King who will rule forever and whose kingdom will last forever. The king of all there is who took became one of us, took on human flesh, subjecting himself to all the broken of a sin ravaged world so that he could die in our place. Who like a lamb was slain, who bore our griefs and carried our sorrows, who was pierced and crushed for our sins, and heals us by his wounds.

Will you respond in a way that is fitting for such a King? Perhaps repenting, turning from your sins and to King Jesus, the one who offers forgiveness of your sin and eternal life to all who turn from sin and trust in him? Perhaps you’ll leap for joy, call out with a great shout, magnify God’s name with your voice and voice your thankfulness for your salvation through Christ.