Magnify the LORD (Part 2)
Advent 2023 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
What happens when you can’t see the power of God on display in your life?
We know things about God…but what do we do when we don’t experience the things of God?
When you think about God’s power and strength, do you think about
CREATION?
THE PLAGUES?
PROPHETS CALLING FIRE DOWN FROM HEAVEN?
CHRISTMAS?
MIRACLES?
THE RESURRECTION?
CHRIST’S RETURN?
These ARE Great displays of God’s power.
But these ARE NOT everyday things.
If we’re not careful, we will find ourselves waiting on some GREAT SIGN or wonder…
...some BIG answer to prayer on OUR TERMS
to PROVE that God is Strong and Powerful.
But, Virgins haven’t conceived since Mary.
(ANGELS) And, even though our libraries and bookstores are often filled with books about angels and there are lots of claims of encounters, the Bible records very few interactions with angels and God’s people.
Daniel Darling writes, “We might think it’s common, but in the thousands of years of history recorded in Scripture, there are precious few moments when the winged creatures showed up.”
If we’re not careful, we can feel overlooked, forgotten, neglected, and passed over by God’s power.
Mary had every reason to feel the same way.
But she sings.
She sings because she knows who God is.
She sings because she remembers what God has already done.
She sings because she has faith in what He is going to do.
…and she doesn’t really have any answers or insight into the future.
What would happen to your faith, your disposition, if you meditated on the POWER OF GOD!
LET’S PRAY
NOTE ABOUT ADVENT:
Remember, Advent has its foundation in Christian hope.
HOPE based on the fact that God came to us!
He came to us in Jesus Christ.
God with Us - Immanuel!
Advent is a kind of wonderful tool - an intentional spiritual journey for the church.
It calls for expectant waiting and helps us prepare to be “ready” for the coming of Christ.
When the church travels this journey together it can intensify the joy of Christmas!
That’s what we’ve found in our family.
TRANSITION
When I started slowly looking at this passage awhile back, I was struck by some of the high notes in this Christmas carol. The “strength and might” of God keep showing up.
I felt really encouraged AND convicted at the same time. I’ll circle back to that at the end of our time this afternoon.
Let’s highlight a few of those notes.
TAKE YOUR BIBLES AND LOOK WITH ME.
Let’s start at the beginning and work our way through this great notes:
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.
Look at verse 50
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;
V49 - HE WHO IS MIGHTY
V49 - DONE GREAT THINGS
V50 - FEAR - (Phobeo) BE AFRAID, FRIGHTENED, FEAR
V51 - STRENGTH SHOWN BY HIS ARM
V51 - SCATTERS THE PROUD
V52 - BROUGHT DOWN THE MIGHTY
V52 - EXALTS THE LOWLY
I wonder if we might just take a moment and worship our Mighty God this afternoon.
1. HE IS MIGHTY
1. HE IS MIGHTY
Mary did NOT say, “He who will be mighty?”
Like us, she didn’t know what the next day would bring
Mary did NOT say, “He who was mighty?”
The past IS A PROMISE of what is…but we cannot LIVE in the past.
If our only testimony of the power of God is in the past
what He did way back then
what He did 40+ years ago when He saved me
what He did a few years ago when we went through that major storm
If that’s all we’ve got…
If He’s just a God who used to…
then it is so easy to blown about by the winds of this world
What did MARY SAY? What DID SHE KNOW…quite a lot actually!
HE IS A MIGHTY GOD!
RIGHT NOW!
She knew that based on WHO HE WAS - HOW HE HAD REVEALED HIMSELF - HE WAS A RIGHT NOW GOD!
In the OT, the prophet Zephaniah recognized that God was MIGHTY in the present - and that had very real consequences in the future
17 The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
8 O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O Lord, with your faithfulness all around you? 9 You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them. 10 You crushed Rahab like a carcass; you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm. 11 The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours; the world and all that is in it, you have founded them. 12 The north and the south, you have created them; Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name. 13 You have a mighty arm; strong is your hand, high your right hand. 14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you. 15 Blessed are the people who know the festal shout, who walk, O Lord, in the light of your face, 16 who exult in your name all the day and in your righteousness are exalted. 17 For you are the glory of their strength; by your favor our horn is exalted. 18 For our shield belongs to the Lord, our king to the Holy One of Israel.
Mary had experienced God’s power at conception when “the power of the Most High” overshadowed her (1:35).
One of my favorite passages that surfaces this time of year is from the prophet Isaiah in the Old Testament when he says,
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
HE IS THE MIGHTY GOD!
…AND NOW MARY IS CARRYING THAT ANOINTED MIGHTY ONE IN HER WOMB.
This is the Mighty God that the angel reminded Mary of when he said in Luke 1.37
37 For nothing will be impossible with God.”
(BTW, Jesus would say the same thing in Luke 18:27)
27 But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
This is the mighty God that did the impossible as it was revealed in the OT.
Creation
Calling a man - a family - a people - a nation
Delivering them from bondage
Sustaining them in the wilderness
God does the impossible!
He makes dry wombs conceive,
he removes hearts of stone and replaces them with living hearts,
he raises the dead.
and this is the GOD WHO SAVES BY HIS POWER…
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
We don’t need to go hunting for a sign or a wonder to validate God’s power.
His WORD is enough - it tells us who He is!
His SPIRIT is enough - He guides us to all truth and to Jesus!
There is no elected power, no cultural power, no scheme of man, and no power of Hell that can stand against the power and might of our God!
HE IS MIGHTY!
NEXT LET’S NOTICE WHAT HE DOES WITH HIS MIGHT…
HE GETS REAL PERSONAL AND REALLY AWESOME!
2. HE DOES GREAT THINGS!
2. HE DOES GREAT THINGS!
Look at verse 49 again
49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
What great things has God done for Mary?
While we touched on that last week…let me color it a bit here for us this afternoon:
Nobody cared about Nazareth:
To get to Nazareth, you had to head straight to the part of Caesar’s empire that was the least desirable: Judea.
Nazareth was such a backwater that the first thing Nathanael, who would become a disciple, said about Jesus was, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
In other words, he was asking, “Why would I be interested in someone who comes from a part of the world that nobody respects?”
Nobody knew about Mary:
Nobody knew Mary’s name.
Mary was not looking for prominence.
She was, like every other Jewish peasant girl in Nazareth,
simply living out an ordinary life in an ordinary town with unassuming dreams.
Pastor and Author R. Kent Hughes describes her likely future, before the angel visit, this way:
From all indicators, her life would not be extraordinary.
She would marry humbly, give birth to numerous poor children, never travel farther than a few miles from home, and one day die like thousands of others before her—a nobody in a nothing town in the middle of nowhere.
Nobody knew Mary’s name.
But God did.
Nobody but God, of course.
This is the way Immanuel works -
He visits the lowly of station and lowly of heart. He dwells among the broken and contrite.
The Christmas story reminds us that God moves in ways that often make no sense to us.
The thread of redemption woven throughout Scripture seems to wind its way through a lot of small towns and seemingly little lives that few of us would ever select for a supporting cast in God’s Great Story of Redemption.
4 All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O Lord, for they have heard the words of your mouth, 5 and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord. 6 For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar.
18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
Mary’s life is being turned UPSIDE DOWN…
BUT SHE SINGS
She doesn’t just sing any song, she says,
“He has done great things for me”
psa 103.1-5
1 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5 who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
You don’t have to fully understand in the moment what God is doing as He is moving in YOUR life…
He’s doing great things.
You may not see all that He is doing. You just have a truckload of unanswered questions.
He’s doing great things.
You may wish that He was doing this or that…because what He is doing is painful and costly.
He’s doing great things.
How do you know that?
13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
But preacher, you can’t say that - YOU CAN’T KNOW WHAT GOD IS DOING…I’M IN THE MIDDLE OF IT AND I DON’T KNOW…
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
GOD HAS NOT FORGOTTEN YOU.
GOD SEES YOU.
GOD KNOWS YOU.
GOD LOVES YOU.
BEFORE YOU WERE CAPABLE OF EVEN PUTING A THOUGHT TOGETHER.
HE SAID HE LOVED YOU!
He said it by sending His own dear Son
…[[[gospel]]]…
GOD IS MIGHTY, whether you see it or not.
GOD IS DOING GREAT THINGS, whether you see it or not...
BUT MARY CHOSE TO SEE IT.
SO CAN YOU.
GOD IS NOT HIDING FROM YOU.
3. God Shows His Strength
3. God Shows His Strength
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;
God extends His MERCY
(withholding what we DO deserve)
to those who come to KNOW AND FEAR HIM!
When we see that word fear in our English Bibles, we’re tempted to say, “that means to revere and respect - that doesn’t mean to be afraid of.”
Well hold on a minute.
This word, PHOBEO used 95x in the NT means: BE AFRAID, FRIGHTENED, FEAR
So, what do we do with that.
We recognize that this GOD of infinite and incalculable power COULD wipe out all those who rebel against Him in an instant, and He’d be right to do it.
But this God of infinite and incalculable power, sent the Darling of Heaven, His only Begotten Son, Christ came to this earth and robed Himself in flesh, lived a sinless, spotless life, was tortured to death as He was crucified on a Roman Cross for our sins so that He could absorb that infinite and incalculable wrath that we deserve so that…
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
HOW DOES THIS GOD DISPLAY HIS POWER?
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;
He shows mercy!
He scatters the proud!
He knows our hearts!
He brings down the mighty from their thrones!
He lifts the humble!
6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
How can Mary sing,
The Lord is Mighty!
The Lord does Great Things for Me!
The Lord Shows Strength!
When God had been silent for hundreds of years?
He may have been silent, but He was still working.
When I began to focus on how much Mary sang about God’s Might and Strength, I told you.
I felt really encouraged AND convicted at the same time.
I was encouraged that God is at work…even when I don’t see Him or feel Him or hear Him.
I was convicted at how I live that out.
Convicted at how I’ve often prayed like He was NOT MIGHTY, NOT ABLE TO DO GREAT THINGS, AND NOT ABLE TO SHOW HIS STRENGTH SO THAT ALL COULD SEE.
The more time I spend in God’s Word…
the more I see His might
the more I know He’s great
the more I’m looking for His display of strength
The more Scripture I meditate on…
the more my prayers fit a MIGHTY GOD
the more my mind and heart know HE’S DOING GREAT THINGS IN ME, THROUGH ME, AND FORE ME
the more my EYES ARE OPEN TO SEE HIS STRENGTH ON DISPLAY
What about you?
if you’re tempted RIGHT NOW to think less of God - He’ll forgive you for that - but He won’t bless you if you stay in that mode
if you’re tempted to think God won’t provide GREAT THINGS for your life today - you need to go back to the foot of the cross and see great love on display
if you’re just NOT seeing God at work around you - YOU SHOULD ASK THE LORD TO OPEN YOUR EYES!
He is at work. He’s working here, in this family, in YOUR family, He is at work!
He is working His might in the everyday - the ordinary means of grace. He is working in and through people around you - and He’s ready to work in and through you!
Will you surrender today?