Mary, Mary, Quite Extraordinary – Part 2

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On today's edition of Pathway to Victory. When Mary said to Gabriel, I'm your bondservant God, Mary was only 13, but she knew what she was saying. She knew that her acquiescence to being the mother of the Lord might very well end the relationship with a man she loved more than any other person on earth.

You know, that's an extraordinary sacrifice for anybody to make, but for a teenage girl, think about that. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. Throughout the history of the church, Christians have had some wildly differing views about the mother of Jesus.

So what's the proper way to regard this remarkable young woman named Mary? Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress turns to the defining passage on the mother of Jesus and her prominent role in the Christmas story. Now here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.

Dr. Jeffress. Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. Even though I serve as a pastor and I'm on the church property nearly every single day, I'm no different than you. Every day is filled with distractions, and I have to fight to stay focused on my spiritual walk, just like you do. For this reason, I've written a brand new devotional for us to follow together. We're calling it the 2025 Pathway to Victory Daily Devotional. Together in the new year, let's center our daily attention on Christ. This handsome leather-bound book exclusively from Pathway to Victory will point you to Jesus every weekday of 2025. And it's yours when you give a generous year-end gift. This is by far the most impressive devotional we've ever produced, bound in navy blue leather.

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That's the overarching goal of the Light the Darkness matching challenge. And your gift will empower us to bring hope and light to people all across our nation and even around the world. I'll say more about the matching challenge later, but right now it's time to resume our study called, Reigniting Your Passion for Christ, and a message that I introduced on Friday's program based on Luke chapter 1. My message is titled, Mary, Mary Quite Extraordinary. When we come to Luke's gospel, this great doctor who's also a historian gives us a proper balance in understanding Mary.

He neither deifies her nor does he ignore her. Instead, Luke paints Mary as somebody whose character should be admired and whose faith ought to be imitated. Take your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter 1 as we continue our study of the gospel of Luke. Now, look at verse 26 with me. Now in the sixth month, you have to stop there.

What do you mean sixth month? Well, remember this is Elizabeth's story. Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, it was in the sixth month of her pregnancy that the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth. Look at verse 27. Gabriel came to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph of the descendants of David and the virgin's name was Mary. And notice also Luke says that Mary was engaged. And coming in, Gabriel said to her, Hail, favored one, the Lord is with you. The Latin translation says, Hail, one who is full of grace. You have found favor with God.

Do not be afraid. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and you shall bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus. This child of yours, Mary, is going to rule over the entirety of God's creation.

Now that was the announcement. Mary was getting the picture who this baby was going to be. And so in verse 34, she responds with a logical question. And Mary said to Gabriel, How can this be since I'm a virgin? Look at how he answers in verse 35.

And the angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And for that reason, the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God. Why was a virgin birth necessary? Let me show you why a virgin birth was absolutely necessary.

If somebody ever asks you, you can give them these four reasons. Number one, the virgin birth protects Christ's deity. Had Jesus been born of a human father, if Joseph had been the biological father of Jesus, Jesus would have inherited the curse and the corruption of Adam's sin. Number two, the virgin birth preserves Christ's humanity.

The fact that Jesus was born just like you and I are born, he lived the same kind of existence we did, means he understands everything you and I are going through. And his humanity is preserved through a virgin birth. Number three, the virgin birth solves the problem of Jeconiah's curse. He was also known as Jehoiachin. Here's the curse on Jehoiachin. Not one of his descendants will ever prosper on the throne of David. Well, that presents a big problem because if you've got David here and you've got Jehoiachin here, then it means nobody who's a descendant from that point on could ever be qualified to be the Messiah because they can't prosper on the throne. And yet, the Bible says the Messiah, whoever he is, has to be a descendant of David. And for him down here to be a descendant of David up there, he has to pass through Jehoiachin.

Well, how do you solve that naughty problem? You solve it through a virgin birth. The fourth reason a virgin birth is necessary is it fulfills prophecy. 700 years earlier, God had said through Isaiah the prophet that the Messiah would be virgin born. Therefore, the Lord himself would give you a sign. Behold, a virgin will be with child and shall bear a son and you shall call his name Immanuel. Now, Mary didn't ask for a sign, that all of this was gonna happen.

But Gabriel gave her one anyway. Look at verse 36. And behold, even your relative Elizabeth, her cousin, has also conceived a son in her old age, and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. Gabriel was saying, Mary, if you really wanna know this is gonna happen, your cousin's already pregnant.

Elizabeth, she's gonna have a child. It's God's sign that he's going to perform this miracle for you as well. And look at Mary's response. Verse 38, behold the bond slave of the Lord. Be it done to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her.

That word bond slave is the lowest kind of slave there is. In other words, Mary was saying, God, whatever you wanna do with my life, do it. I am yours.

I am here to serve you. That commitment could have cost her a lot, as we'll see in just a moment. Now, in verse 39, we see Mary suddenly, after this announcement, traveling in haste down to the south, down to Judah to visit her cousin, Elizabeth.

Now, does that strike you as strange? She hears this announcement, and she leaves town as quickly as she can. I mean, why would somebody who had had such an announcement suddenly leave town? And why wouldn't she have her fiancé go with her?

Wouldn't that be normal? I mean, if she was gonna take this risky journey to the south, why didn't she ask Joseph to go with her? I think the reason is because in that white space, see that white space in your Bible between verses 38 and 39?

There's a little bit of white space there. And in that white space is something that happened that Luke did not record, but Matthew did record. Turn over to Matthew chapter 1, beginning with verse 19. Now, if you were Mary and Gabriel had made such an astounding announcement to you, who's the first person you would go and tell about it? Probably your boyfriend, your fiancé, Joseph.

That's exactly what she did. She went and told Joseph, but he didn't have the reaction she was hoping for. Look at verse 19. And Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, desired to put her away secretly. Now, let's don't be too hard on Joseph here. I mean, put yourself in Joseph's sandals for just a moment. Your fiancé, your girlfriend, comes and tells you, you know, Joseph, we haven't had sex. Yeah, I know, I know, I know. You know, we haven't had sex before, but I need to let you know, an angel appeared to me and told me, I'm pregnant.

I'm pregnant and God's the father. Now, can you imagine Joseph's reaction to that? I mean, he thought either I'm engaged to a liar or to a lunatic.

But either way, I'm not going to spend the rest of my life with her. I mean, that's a normal reaction with anybody with that kind of fantastic story. And yet, even though by law, he could have put her away and had her stoned to death as an adulteress, Joseph didn't do that. He still loved Mary. And because of his great love for Mary, he didn't want to disgrace her.

He certainly didn't want to see her executed. So the Bible says he wanted to put her away secretly in the relationship, just tell everybody it was irreconcilable differences and let them get on with their lives. And when Mary saw the reaction of Joseph, she was heartbroken, I believe.

And that's why she left so quickly. Out of Joseph's presence, she went to somebody she thought would be sympathetic with her cousin, and that's why she went to Elizabeth's house. But God wasn't finished at all. Look at verse 20 of Matthew 1. But when Joseph had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for it is he who will save his people from their sins. Now, all this took place that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel, which translated means God with us.

That's the quotation of Isaiah 7-14. And Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took her as his wife, and kept her a virgin, underline, until she gave birth to a son, and he called his name Jesus. Now, I believe it was all of this that was taking place between verses 38 and 39. Mary leaves Nazareth, flees to Judah in order to talk to Elizabeth.

Look at verse 39. Now, at this time, Mary arose and went with haste to the hill country to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias, and greeted Elizabeth. And it came about that when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby, that's Elizabeth's baby, six months in the womb, John the Baptist, the baby leaped in her womb.

Remember the prediction about John the Baptist? Luke 1-15 says he would be filled, that means controlled, by the Holy Spirit. And so here you have this six-month baby in the womb who hears the voice of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and he leaps in Elizabeth's womb. Verse 41 says, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, why is that important, that Elizabeth was controlled by the Holy Spirit?

Because of verse 42. Elizabeth cried out when she saw Mary with a loud voice and said, blessed among women are you, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how has it happened to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

Now, wait a minute. How did Elizabeth know that her cousin Mary was going to be the mother of the Messiah? All Mary had said when she came through the door was hello.

Now, how did she know this? The answer right there, verse 41. She was filled with the Holy Spirit. And notice how Elizabeth praises Mary in verse 45. She says, and blessed is she, talking about Mary, who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what has been spoken to her by the Lord.

Mary was uncomfortable with that kind of praise. And so she quickly turns the attention to God himself. And in verses 46 to 56, you have some of the most beautiful and poetic words in all of the Scripture. Mary's praise to God.

We many times refer to it as Mary's magnificat. The magnificat, it comes from the Latin translation magnify that you find in verse 46, when Mary said, my soul magnifies the Lord. We don't have time to look at these verses, but look at just the first four with me. And Mary said, my soul exalts, magnifies the Lord. And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior, for he has regard for the humble state of his bond slave. For behold, from this time all the generations will count me blessed. For the mighty one has done great things for me, and holy is his name.

Now remember, this is coming from a 13-year-old. Just two things I'd point out about these verses. First of all, notice how she begins by referring to God as her Savior.

God my Savior. Mary was under no illusion that she was sinless. She was a sinner just like all of us are sinners.

She needed a Savior just like we all need a Savior. The second thing I notice about these verses is how many references there are to the Old Testament. She is endlessly quoting the Old Testament Scriptures.

Just jot these down, 1 Samuel 2, Psalm 34, Psalm 35, Psalm 103. Her words are dripping with quotations from the Old Testament. This 13-year-old girl knew the Scriptures backward and forwards. And the reason she knew the Scriptures is her parents made that a priority in her training to teach her the Word of God. The greatest thing you can do for your child is to ground them in the truth of God's Word.

Because your child at some point in life is going to be hit by the storms of life. Something's going to happen to them in which they need the grounding that gives them God's perspective on what's happening in their life. It's the Scriptures that gave Mary the foundation to understand what God was doing in her life. Mary recognized that her selection by God was the result of God's graciousness in her life. Now, I know we read this and we think, well, certainly this helps me understand the virgin birth of Christ.

But what does this have to do with me? I mean, after all, this event was a once in history event, the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. So what happened to this peasant teenage girl 2,000 years ago impact my life? You know, I think all of us, hopefully, desire to live more than an ordinary life. Wouldn't you like for God to use you to do something extraordinary, something that would really make a difference in the world and His kingdom? As I read through this passage and look at the life of Mary, I think we can learn three characteristics of the kind of person God chooses to use in an extraordinary way.

First of all, jot these down. God uses those who are pure. He uses those who are pure. Look, let's don't turn Mary into a plaster saint. She wasn't. She was a normal teenage girl with all the normal drives of a teenage girl, and she was in love. She was engaged. I mean, couldn't she and Joseph have rationalized any premarital sexual relationship? They'd already decided they were going to get married. They would be married soon.

They certainly, I'm sure, were tempted, just like other young adults are, to enter into a premarital sexual relationship. But had Mary done that, it's not that she couldn't have been forgiven. Of course, she could have been forgiven.

But she would have been disqualified from this unique role that God had prepared for her. You see, given a choice between using someone who is pure and someone who is impure, God will always choose the pure vessel over the impure vessel. You might say, well, pastor, I've messed that one up. I guess God can't use me anymore because I have fallen in that area.

No. God can cleanse you. He can forgive you. And you can make a commitment to God from this point on that you're going to be a pure vessel, available for God's use in an extraordinary way. God uses those who are pure. Secondly, God uses those who believe his word. Remember what Elizabeth said about Mary blessed, happy as she who believes that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her.

A simple reason that God chose Mary was Mary believed what God said. She had faith. You know, Hebrews 11, 6 says, without faith, it is impossible to please God. What is faith? Well, let me tell you what faith is not. Faith is not believing that God is going to do what I want him to do. That's what most people teach faith is.

Picture in your mind what you want the most and then just believe, believe, believe. If you believe long enough and hard enough, God will bring it to pass. That's not faith.

That's presumption. Faith is not believing God will do what I want him to do. Faith is believing that God will do what he has promised to do. We don't know whether God is going to heal that person we care about so much who is ill. We don't know if God is going to bring us this job or not. We don't know if God's going to heal this relationship or not.

We can't know ahead of time. Faith is not believing that God's going to do what we want him to do. Faith is believing that God will do what he's already promised to do. God had already spoken to Mary. He said, you're going to be the mother of the Savior. And Mary believed God. God uses those who believe his word. And finally, God uses those who are willing to sacrifice that which is most important to them.

God uses those who are willing to sacrifice that which is most important to them. When Mary said to Gabriel, I'm your bondservant, God, to do whatever you want to do, Mary was only 13, but she knew what she was saying. She knew that her acquiescence to being the mother of the Lord might very well end the relationship with a man she loved more than any other person on earth.

She knew this might lead to the breakup of the engagement. You know, that's an extraordinary sacrifice for anybody to make, but for a teenage girl, think about that. That was an extraordinary sacrifice. But Mary was able to make it, to sacrifice that relationship because of her love for and her commitment to God.

What about she? Do you desire to be used by God in an extraordinary way? God uses those who are pure. He uses those who believe his word.

And he uses those who are willing to sacrifice that which is most important to them. There's much more we need to learn from Dr. Luke's detailed account of Jesus' life. My teaching series is called Re-igniting Your Passion for Christ. And in just a moment, David will explain how you can receive your copy of the entire collection of messages on video and audio discs. But first, let me encourage you to ignite your passion for Christ by requesting a copy of the brand new Pathway to Victory daily devotional for 2025. I've written enough chapters to keep you in God's Word every weekday of the new year.

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Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins. Every year at Christmas we pause to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. But often the busyness of the holiday season distracts us from its true meaning. So join us for a fresh look at the most important birth in human history. That's Tuesday on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. And right now, your special year-end gift will be matched and therefore doubled in impact thanks to the Light the Darkness matching challenge. Take advantage of this opportunity to double your impact before the deadline on December 31st. To give toward the matching challenge, go to ptv.org slash donate or follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.