Mary Found Favour

Transcript

Rob McFarlane 0:29

This is the third sermon in a three-part series. We are looking at the lives of three Bible characters: Moses, Joseph, and Mary, and how they found favor with God. Today we're going to look at how Mary found favor with God. And let's read Luke chapter 1, verse 26 to 38. In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, Greetings, O favoured one, the Lord is with you. But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. And Mary said to the angel, How will this be, since I am a virgin? The angel answered her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth, in her old age, has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God. 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. The angel Gabriel told Mary that she had found favor with God. We read this in verse 28 and verse 30. You have found favor with God, he said to Mary. Now we're going to look today at three things about Mary, the mother of Jesus, from Luke chapter 1, verse 26 to 38. So number one, Mary knew that God could do what was impossible with man. In Luke chapter 1, verse 37, we read, For nothing will be impossible with God. There are many things that are impossible with man, but nothing is impossible for God. Mary could walk in God's favor because she knew from what the angel said that nothing was impossible for God. Let's trust him to intervene in the ordinary course of nature, to perform miracles, to move in our lives and in the lives of our loved ones, in the lives of our community, and to perform impossible things. Remember, with man it's impossible, but not with God. With God all things are possible. Number two, Mary took God at his word. We read in Luke chapter 1, verse 38. And Mary said, Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. Faith is taking God at His word, regardless of the circumstances, the logic, or the experience. Mary said, How can this be? Since I am a virgin. She said, How can this be? And you know, God is not bothered by us asking genuine, sincere questions of him. But we need to take him at his word. We can contrast Mary with Zechariah. But he chose not to believe what the angel had said, and as a result, he could not speak until the child was born. Mary, however, said, Let it be to me according to your word. Let's be like Mary. Let's be childlike in our faith and take God at his word. Let's not be like Zechariah, who was a seasoned priest who spent his time serving God, where we become callous and uh and we we almost disregard God's promises in our lives. Let's have childlike faith. Let's say, Lord, let it be to me according to your word. Now we know from Jesus' first miracle that Mary had a faith that endured. She knew that if we just do what God says, things will begin to happen in our lives. His first miracle was at a wedding in Cana of Galilee. They had run out of wine, and Mary said to the servants, do whatever Jesus tells you. God wants us to have a simple faith, a simple faith that's based on relationship with Him, that we take Him at His word and we say, Let it be to me according to your word, that we will do whatever Jesus tells us to do, regardless of whether it makes sense to our human logic, reasoning, or experience. As we read the Gospels, we'll see there are many times that Jesus told his disciples to do things that didn't seem to make sense. Yet when they obeyed him, when they had done what he had said, they began to see amazing things. For example, the great catch of fish, when the disciples were called to be fishers of men, Jesus said to them, Cast your net out on the other side. It didn't make sense. It seemed illogical. Their experience was they fished at night and they didn't fish in the morning. It was inconvenient. They'd washed their nets, they were ready to pack up for the day. They had fished all night and caught nothing. But because they did what he said, they got a net breaking, boat sinking load of fish. Let's be those who take him at his word with the simple faith like Mary had. And God can do incredible things in our lives. So so far, we've seen that Mary knew that things that were impossible with man were possible with God. And we've seen that Mary took God at his word. And as a result, God began to do amazing things. That which was conceived in her was of the Holy Spirit and would be great, and God would be glorified, and people would be drawn to God through Jesus Christ because of Mary's obedience. Number three, my final point. Mary understood that only with the Holy Spirit was it going to come to pass. Let's look at Luke chapter 1, verse 34 and 35. In verse 34, she asks the question, How can this be? And verse 35, the angel says, The Holy Spirit will come upon you. There are times when we look at what God has promised us. When we look at what God wants to do through us, and we say, How can this be? And the answer is the Holy Spirit. There are things that only the Holy Spirit can do. Zechariah chapter 4 and verse 6 says, Not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. When we minister in the name of Jesus, we don't do it in our own strength, but we do it under the power inspired by, empowered by, the dynamite power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said to his disciples, don't go out and start ministering until you've received power from on high. That was the baptism of the Holy Spirit that took them into a whole nother level of ministry. The same disciples who were hiding in the upper room burst out and proclaimed boldly the gospel. And thousands of people were added to the church. And God wants to do things in and through us under the power of the Holy Spirit. Our Holy Spirit, we ask that you come upon us and you empower us and use us for God's purpose and for God's glory. That people may see Jesus and be drawn to him because of the things that you do in and through our lives. We want more of his power and more of his presence in our lives. When we witness to someone in the name of Jesus or tell them about God's goodness and love, we need to recognize that we do it in cooperation with the Holy Spirit. We share the gospel and it's the Holy Spirit's job to convict people of sin, righteousness, and judgment to come. Our job is to love people. God's job is to draw people to Him. And the most loving thing that you can do for someone is to tell them how they can have a living relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. Remember, it's not by might or by power, it's not by our intellect or our power of persuasion that's going to reach people for the Lord Jesus Christ. But it's by the Holy Spirit, seeing the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives, seeing the power of the Holy Spirit flow through our lives. So we've seen three things. First of all, we know Mary knew the things that were impossible with man were possible with God. Secondly, Mary understood that faith is taking God at His word. She said, Let it be to me according to your word. The first miracle Jesus performed, she was integral in that whole miracle when she said, Whatever he says to you, do it. And finally, Mary knew that it could only be accomplished through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. Wonderful. Let's pray together. Father God, thank you that you sent your Son Jesus so we can have a living relationship with you. We thank you for the example of Mary, who knew that that which was impossible with man was possible with God. And we today thank you that we can live a life that pleases you and we can attract your favor. We can find favor with you when we believe that you can do the impossible in our lives. We choose to take you at your word. Let it be to us according to your word. In Jesus' name. Amen.