In the Thoughts of Their Hearts

“And Mary said,

“’My soul magnifies the Lord,

    and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.

    For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

for he who is mighty has done great things for me,

    and holy is his name.

And his mercy is for those who fear him

    from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm;

    he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;

he has brought down the mighty from their thrones

    and exalted those of humble estate;

he has filled the hungry with good things,

    and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel,

    in remembrance of his mercy,

as he spoke to our fathers,

    to Abraham and to his offspring forever.’” (Luke 1:46-55 ESV)

Mary was the physical mother of the physical baby Jesus. For she had been chosen of God to be the one to give birth to Jesus Christ. But Jesus was not an ordinary child, for he was not born of man, for Mary was a virgin when Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit in her womb. So when he lived on the earth he was both fully God and fully man (God incarnate, in the flesh). So she was praising the Lord that he looked on the humble estate of his servant Mary and that he chose her to be the mother of the Christ child.

But then she moved on to what appears to be a different subject, but one definitely related to Jesus who was and is the long awaited Christ who was to come, and who did come into the world when Mary gave birth to him over 2000 years ago. For it was the mercy of God which sent Jesus Christ, the Son of God (who is God) to the earth to live and then to spread the good news of the gospel to his people (primarily to the Jews of that time), but good news which was also intended for the Gentiles (for all non-Jews).

But Jesus was not sent to the earth to be born as a baby just to spread the good news of the gospel, nor just for the purpose of performing many miracles, and healing the sick and afflicted, and raising the dead, and delivering people from demons, and feeding the hungry, etc. Ultimately his purpose in coming to the earth was to die on a cross to take our sins upon himself and to put them to death with him so that we might die to sin and walk in obedience to our Lord in the power of God, by the grace of God.

And his mercy is for those who fear the Lord, from generation to generation. And what does it mean to fear the Lord? It means to reverence him, to worship him, to hold him and his word in high esteem, to follow him with our lives, and to obey his commandments. It means that we take God and his word (in full context) very seriously, and we believe not only his promises to those who obey him, but also his warnings to all who choose their sin over God and who do not walk in obedience to his commands, in practice.

For many are those who give lip service to the Lord, who claim him as their Lord and Savior, and heaven as their eternal destiny, but who still live their lives for themselves the way that they want without regard for God and for his will and purpose for their lives. They are the “proud in the thoughts of their hearts” who determine their own course, and who go their own way, and who choose how they want to live and what sins to tolerate in their own lives regardless of what the Scriptures teach will happen to them.

Somehow they have convinced themselves that they are “above the law” of God and that they do not have to honor him with their lives, but that they can remain in their sinful addictions and that it won’t impact their salvation from sin and their eternal life with God. For they are a “god” unto themselves choosing their own pathway, which for many today is the path of sexual immorality and idolatry and adultery which are so commonplace now among professers of faith in Jesus Christ, which is largely being tolerated.

But the gospel message which is permeating the church today here in America is not the gospel that Jesus taught and that his NT apostles taught, not if you read what they said in the right context. And that is why there is so much leniency being given to “Christians” who continue on a sinful course and who do not make it their practice to obey God and to live holy lives in the power of God, by the grace of God. For so many are not teaching self-denial, daily dying to sin, and walks of obedience to our Lord as true faith.

But they are teaching an altered and cheapened form of the true gospel which is telling their adherents that they can make a profession of Christ as their Lord and Savior, but that nothing is required of them beyond that, for God does everything for them. And then they are promising them that all their sins are forgiven, that heaven is guaranteed them, that nothing can take that away from them, but regardless of how they live. And so they have no motivation to live holy and morally pure and upright lives to God’s glory.

So they are not in genuine relationship with Jesus Christ, and they are not in fellowship with him, even though they claim to be, because they are still deliberately and habitually sinning against the Lord and against their fellow humans (even their spouses and children), which is the opposite of love, and because they are refusing to forsake their sinful practices in order to walk in obedience to the Lord and to his commands. But Jesus said to follow him we must deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in obedience to his ways.

[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

And at the time that Mary spoke the quoted words above, Jesus had not yet been born, and so he had not yet died on that cross for our sins, and so the Jewish nation were the children of God, biblical Israel, although not all of them were followers of God, and thus not all of them were spiritual Israel. But once Jesus died on that cross, all who refused to believe in him were cut out of biblical Israel (Jesus Christ) and all who believed in Jesus were grafted into biblical Israel (Jesus Christ) and thus became children of God.

And so the Israel of God at present is all who believe in Jesus Christ with biblical faith, whether Jew or Gentile by physical birth, who are following the Lord in obedience to his commands and who are no longer making sin their practice. All who do not believe in Jesus in truth and in righteousness, and in walks of surrender to the will of God, in obedience to his commands, are not true biblical and spiritual Israel. But the Lord does indeed help his people, his servants, to walk in the ways of the Lord and to serve him with our lives.

[Genesis 17:7-9; Genesis 18:19; Romans 2:28-29; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 9:4-8,25-28; Romans 11:1-36; Galatians 3:16,26-29; Galatians 4:22-31; Ephesians 2:11-22; Ephesians 3:6; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 2:22; John 8:18-19,38-47; Jude 1:5; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-16; Hebrews 8:6-13; Revelation 2:9; Revelation 3:9]

Mary, Did You Know?

Songwriters: Greene Lee Rufus / Lowry Mark Alan

Mary, did you know that your baby boy

Would one day walk on water?

Mary, did you know that your baby boy

Would save our sons and daughters?

Did you know that your baby boy

Has come to make you new?

This child that you delivered, will soon deliver you

Mary, did you know that your baby boy

Is Lord of all creation?

Mary, did you know that your baby boy

Would one day rule the nations?

Did you know that your baby boy

Is heaven's perfect Lamb?

That sleeping child you're

Holding is the great, I Am

Mary, did you know? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPsgIhlYQmM 

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