This sermon analyzes Mary's hymn in Luke 1, highlighting how God's mercy is demonstrated through His inversion of worldly power structures, favoring the helpless, humble, and hungry, and fulfilling His promises to Israel.
[Music]
a series entitled merry's christmas
and now we pause to pray
gracious father thank you for your word
our hearts just rejoice that we have an
open bible that we can read
thank you for the holy spirit who helps
us as we meditate
and most of all lord help us to practice
what we learn may we receive this word
may this not just be a lesson for our
heads may it be life for our hearts
i pray in jesus name amen
amen
in luke chapter 1 beginning at verse 46
mary is praising the lord and we
discovered that there are three stanzas
to her hymn
verses 46 through 49 she praises the
lord for what he has done for her
he has been mindful of her verse 48 in
spite of her low estate and he has been
mighty toward her verse 49
he has done for her great things and why
did he do this because holy is his name
everything god does he does to glorify
his holy name
and so she praises god for what he has
done for her for mary
now in luke chapter 1 beginning at verse
50 and through verse 53
stands a two of her hymn she praises god
for what he does for all who fear him
now this includes us you and i are
included here in stanza 2. let's read it
luke chapter 1 verse 50 and his mercy is
on them that fear him from generation to generation
generation
he hath shown 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
exalted them of low degree
he hath filled the hungry with good
things and the rich he hath sent empty away
away
now all who fear him that includes all
who have trusted the lord from
generation to generation you see this
song doesn't just simply belong to mary
it belongs to all believers from
generation to generation
mary has pointed out that god was
mindful of her in verse 48 and that god
was mighty toward her in verse 49 but
the emphasis in 50-53 is on mercy and
his mercy is on them that fear him from
generation to generation now who are
these people who need
the mercy of god
well there are three classes of people
here who are recipients of the mercy of
god verse 51 the helpless
verse 52 the humble
and verse 53
the hungary
and these three classifications of people
people
are present in every generation in every
generation you're going to find those
who are helpless not only helpless
physically perhaps helpless politically
helpless economically most of all
helpless spiritually
desperately needing the mercy of the
lord defenseless people who need god's
help and then the humble those who are
lowly those who are not at the top of
the social ladder and then the hungry
this refers i think not only to physical
hunger people who are in a poverty
situation but even more so in spiritual
hunger refers to the fact that when we
hunger and thirst after righteousness
we shall be filled you know what mary is
singing here she is saying to us god has
turned everything upside down
by sending his son
who died for us on the cross the lord
jesus christ did not accept the status
quo he was not impressed by the rich he
was not impressed by those who had high
status who had high positions in government
government
or in society he was not impressed by
people's power by their swords quite the
opposite our lord jesus identified with
the helpless
the humble
and the hungry and he met their needs
you see our problem in the church today
is that we look at the world
through the world's eyes we ought to
look at the world through god's eyes god
is not impressed with size god is not
impressed with power
god is not impressed with budgets and
money and military might god says i sent
my son into the world and i have turned
everything upside down the old standards
are gone the people who are really important
important
are the helpless and the humble and the
hungry now let's look at them verse 50
and his mercy is on them that fear him
from generation to generation verse 51
the helpless
he hath shown strength with his arm now
here are people whose arms did not have
the strength to do anything
mary says great things he has done for
me how did he do this by bearing his arm
you know when god wanted to make the
worlds he just used his finger
when i consider the heavens the work of
thy fingers
psalm 8 verse 3
he has bared his arm to whom is the arm
of the lord revealed isaiah 53 verse 1
he has shown strength with his arm you
see when jesus christ came to this world
it was a much greater thing than just
the creating of the universe god just
had to move his fingers and that was done
done
when jesus came god was bearing his arm
for whom for the helpless
now why were these people helpless well
he hath scattered the proud in the
imagination of their hearts the proud
people were united together imagining
that they had the power living on imagination
imagination
and because of this
gathering together of the proud
the other people were helpless they
couldn't do anything they had no way to
fight back
you know this reminds me of what the
jews saying when the exodus took place
exodus chapter 15 records the very first
song in the bible as far as i know
verse six thy right hand o lord has
become glorious in power thy right hand
o lord hath dashed in peace as the enemy
and in the greatness of thine excellency
thou hast overthrown them that rose up
against thee
now in verse 12 thou stretchest out thy
right hand
the earth swallowed them now at the
creation it was his fingers at the
exodus it was his hand
but here when the lord jesus comes into
the world it is the bearing of god's
mighty arm of power
and so he is merciful to the helpless if
you feel helpless today
because of your home situation or school
or your employment or society
something in your life you feel helpless
i want you to know that god has turned
everything upside down and he is the one
who helps the helpless that's verse 51
now verse 52
he hath put down the mighty from their seats
seats
and exalted them of low degree
remember in verse 48 he hath regarded
the low estate of his handmaiden and so
god's mercy is not only for the helpless
in verse 51 it's also for the humble in
verse 52
god resists the proud and he gives grace
to the humble he's turned everything
upside down
the lord jesus didn't come to jerusalem
and choose priests and kings he came to
bethlehem and he was worshiped by shepherds
shepherds
the lord jesus didn't call the high and
the mighty he called fisherman to be his disciples
disciples
the lord in his grace calls to us today
god still resists the proud and god
still gives grace to the humble he hath
put down the mighty from their seats you
see people have might today only because
of their status where they sit
you and i know people who don't have any character
