Words "Natural Words" 12-15-24
Overview
Soaring Words: Mary's Magnificat and the Words We Speak
The average person speaks more than 860 million words in a lifetime. Most are ordinary; a few soar. Mary's Magnificat in Luke 1:46-55 belongs to the soaring kind. "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior." Notice that last phrase: Mary calls God her Savior. She was an ordinary human being, a sinner like us, who needed grace like us. There is nothing about Mary that earned her election to bear the Messiah—it is wholly God's favor resting on the lowly. And her song proclaims a God who scatters the proud, brings down the powerful, lifts up the humble, and fills the hungry, all in fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham in Genesis 12.
Mary's words are familiar not only because we hear them at Advent, but because she is borrowing. Listen to Hannah in 1 Samuel 2:1-5: "My heart exults in the Lord… there is no Holy One like the Lord… the bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble bind on strength… those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger." Mary's praise echoes Hannah's almost line for line. When the moment of greatest joy in her life arrives, Mary doesn't reach for novel language. She reaches for Scripture. Her heart is so saturated with God's word that God's word is what spills out.
That matters because, as Jesus says in Matthew 12:34, "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." The tongue is tied to the heart. James warns that no one can tame the tongue James 3:7-10—from the same mouth come blessing and cursing, and this ought not to be so. Scripture catalogs the ways our words go wrong: evil talk and slander Ephesians 4, obscenity and vulgarity Ephesians 5, lying lips Proverbs 12, hasty words Proverbs 29, speaking evil against one another James 4, even truth spoken without love.
For all those words, there is a better word—the blood-bought word of forgiveness won at the cross by our Savior, the Lord Jesus, who died for every careless and sinful syllable. And from that forgiven heart, our 860 million words can become borrowed words: heart words, God's words, scripture-saturated words like Mary's. May our speech, like hers, soar—shaped not by what is trending in our hearts, but by what God has spoken.
Transcript
Put your open your Bibles, please, with me to the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke. 3s
If you're using a Pue edition of Holy Scripture, you're going to find that New Testament 8s
page 49. 12s
Luke the first chapter for our study today. 14s
860.3 million. 21s
860.3 million. 26s
That's the number of words that we will speak in an average lifetime. 31s
860.3 million. 39s
That's a lot of words, isn't it? 43s
A lot of words. 45s
Some of the words that we speak, they're just ordinary words, right? 48s
Just ordinary words, but there are some words when they're spoken. 54s
That just sore. 61s
They speak of the depths of the soul. 65s
They express it. 71s
They can be almost poetic. 74s
It's those words that's sore. 79s
We're going to study this morning. 86s
Some soaring words. 88s
It's from Luke the first chapter. 92s
It's Mary's Magnificate. 94s
These are words of praise, and they are familiar words. 98s
It's a text that is not uncommon to this time of year in the season of Advent. 103s
These soaring words of Mary, but they're familiar to us. 110s
Not just because we hear them often, but they're familiar to us perhaps in another way. 116s
Look with me, please. 128s
At verse 46 of our text, the background now to this is of course what we have been studying about the two pregnancies. 130s
There is the pregnancy with regard to Elizabeth and Zekaraya. 141s
Remember they couldn't have a baby, the Lord blessed them with a baby. 146s
The angelic messenger comes and says, you are going to have a baby. 149s
That baby is the four runner of the Messiah, John the Baptist. 154s
Zekaraya doesn't believe it. 159s
That's held in distinction with Mary. 162s
Young never had relations. 167s
She's not married. 169s
And yet she is told that she is going to bear a child, the very savior of the world. 172s
And in distinction with Zekaraya, she believes what the angel has said. 178s
We focused on how Mary didn't focus on the problem, but she focused on the promise. 183s
Last week as we continued in Luke the first chapter, we saw Elizabeth calling Mary blessed. 192s
And we studied that word blessed. 197s
That word blessed means to receive the power and the grace of God, the touch of God upon you. 200s
And we saw indeed how all of us receive that touch and power of God, that grace of God upon us. 208s
And then the other meaning of the word blessed to be set apart. 217s
And we are to be set apart. 224s
And we are to be a vehicle whereby God blesses others. 227s
So as we continue now, in Luke the first chapter, we go into the Magnificent. 234s
And we hear this verse 46, Mary said, 241s
My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior. 247s
Notice when she says, 259s
Rejoices in God, my Savior? 261s
What does that tell us about Mary? 266s
Mary was a sinner just like us. 269s
Mary is a human being just like us. 273s
An ordinary person just like us. 277s
Mary needed a Savior just like us. 284s
We go on. 290s
For he has looked with favor on the loneliness of his servant. 293s
Surely from now on all generations will call me blessed for the mighty one has done great things for me. 297s
And holy is his name of all the women in all of history. 305s
She is elected by God. 311s
She is the one that will bear the Messiah. 315s
Nothing special about Mary. 320s
We go on. 327s
Verse 50, 328s
His mercy is for those who fear him. 329s
Remember, mercy is not getting what you deserve. 333s
His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 338s
Then notice the emphasis. 343s
He has shown strength with his arm. 345s
He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 348s
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lonely. 352s
He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. 357s
He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy. 364s
He has, he has, he has. 371s
God lifting up, not the rich and the powerful here. 378s
But God lifting up the humble and the hungry. 384s
And the words sore. 391s
And Mary says, 396s
verse 55, 397s
According to the promise he made to our ancestors to Abraham and to his descendants forever. 400s
This is the fulfillment of Genesis 12 chapter. 411s
This is the fulfillment of the land offspring and blessing that God said would occur. 415s
That God would raise up this people and out of this people would come the Messiah and the entire world would be blessed. 421s
This is the fulfillment of Genesis 12 chapter and the words of Mary. 428s
They sore. 435s
They sore familiar words to us. 437s
The Magnaficot. 443s
For familiar. 445s
But familiar on a deeper level. 450s
Her name was Hannah. 457s
Hannah's story is told in the first two chapters of First Samuel. 461s
Hannah couldn't have a baby and she cried out to the Lord and the Lord blessed her. 470s
And when she has the baby, this word of praise comes from her lips. 477s
It's Hannah's song in First Samuel, the second chapter. 485s
Listen to Hannah and listen to Mary. 495s
Hannah says, 504s
For Samuel chapter 2 verse 1, 506s
My heart exults in the Lord. 509s
My strength is exalted in my God. 513s
My heart exalted in the Lord. 516s
My strength is exalted in my God. 519s
Now look, please, at verse 46, 523s
where Mary says, 526s
My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God. 529s
My Savior. 538s
Sounds similar, doesn't it? 542s
Sounds similar. 544s
Listen to Hannah. 547s
For Samuel chapter 2 verse 2, 550s
Hannah sings, 554s
There is no holy one like the Lord. 555s
No one besides you. 560s
There is no rock like our God. 561s
There's no holy one like the Lord. 565s
No one besides you. 568s
There's no rock like our God. 569s
Now listen to Mary. 572s
Look at verse 49. 575s
For the mighty one. 578s
Has done great things for me and holy is his name. 581s
Sounds similar, doesn't it? 591s
Sounds similar. 593s
Hannah sings, 597s
For Samuel 2 verse 4. 599s
The bows of the mighty are broken, 602s
but the feeble, 605s
on string. 606s
The bows of the mighty are broken, 608s
but the feeble, 611s
on string. 612s
Listen to Mary, 614s
in verse 52. 615s
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, 618s
and lifted up, 623s
below the sound similar, 626s
nothing at. 629s
Listen to Hannah. 631s
For Samuel 2 verse 5, 632s
those who are full have hired themselves out for bread, 634s
but those who are hungry are fat with spoil. 639s
Now look at Mary. 645s
Verse 53. 647s
He has filled the hungry with good things 649s
and sent the rich away empty. 654s
Why is you, 660s
as you listen to Hannah, 661s
and then you listen to Mary, 663s
Mary sounds a lot like Hannah, 669s
doesn't she? 672s
When you listen to them both, 674s
Mary sounds a lot like Hannah. 677s
What can we learn here? 686s
What can we learn? 689s
860.3 million words. 695s
That is a lot. 701s
And we can have a difficult time sometimes. 706s
Can't we? 708s
In controlling our words. 710s
James writes in James the third chapter. 715s
He says, 719s
Every species of beast in bird of reptile 719s
and sea creature can be tamed and has been tamed 724s
by the human species, 728s
but no one can tame the tongue. 729s
Restless evil, full of deadly poison. 733s
With it we bless the Lord and Father, 738s
and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. 740s
From the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. 745s
My brothers and sisters, 750s
this ought not to be so. 752s
What the Bible reveals is that the tongue is linked to the heart. 756s
It's linked to it. 762s
Jesus says in Matthew the 12 chapter, 764s
he says, 767s
For out of the abundance of the heart, 767s
the mouth speaks. 772s
Out of the abundance of the heart, 775s
the mouth speaks. 777s
Jesus says, 778s
that means then that what comes out of here is linked to here. 780s
What comes out of here is linked to here. 791s
What's the point? 800s
The point is that Mary's words were from the heart. 805s
They were borrowed from Hannah. 817s
They were scripture words. 824s
Mary's words were from the heart. 830s
They were borrowed. 836s
They were scripture words. 840s
All forgive us, Lord. 845s
When our words fall into the category 848s
that Ephesians 4 talks about, 851s
those words that are evil talk, 855s
or those words that are slender. 858s
Forgive us, Lord. 861s
When our words fall into what Ephesians 5 talks about, 862s
when our words are obscene, silly, or vulgar. 866s
Forgive us, Lord. 871s
When our words fall into the category of Proverbs 12 chapter, 872s
that talks about lying lips. 877s
Forgive us, Lord. 880s
When our words fall into the category of Proverbs 29th chapter, 881s
when they're quote, 887s
hasty words. 888s
Forgive us, Lord. 890s
When our words fall into the category of James 4th chapter, 891s
when we speak evil against one another. 896s
Forgive us, Lord. 899s
When our words fall into the category of what Ephesians 4 talks about, 901s
in which when we speak the truth, 906s
we can speak it without love. 911s
Forgive us, Lord. 916s
Forgive us, Lord. 919s
For those words. 923s
And that's exactly what he does. 928s
With a blood-bought word of forgiveness, 935s
a blood-bought word, 942s
one at the cross from our Savior, the Lord Jesus, 944s
a blood-bought word when he dies for all of our sin, 948s
including all of those words, 953s
the blood-bought word of our Savior, 956s
the Lord Jesus Christ. 959s
Born at the cross. 963s
860, 860.3 million words in a lifetime. 972s
Beloved may they be borrowed words. 986s
Scripture saturated words. 994s
Mary said, 1002s
For he is looked with favor on the loneliness of his servant. 1007s
Mary said, 1016s
For the mighty one has done great things for me, holy is his name. 1018s
Mary said, 1024s
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, 1025s
and lifted up the lowly. 1029s
Mary said, 1031s
He has filled the hungry with good things. 1034s
Barrowed words. 1045s
They were borrowed words. 1048s
Heart works. 1055s
Good words. 1058s
God's word. 1064s
Hour. 1070s
Words. 1076s
Words. 1087s