Anybody Hungry?

There's something about holiday gatherings and food that just seem to go together.

We often hear somebody say during the holidays, I am stuffed. But what about spiritual hunger? Well, today, Alistair Begg takes us to a well-known song composed by Jesus' mother, Mary, for a message he's titled Anybody Hungry?

Well, I almost hate to say turn to Luke chapter 1, because I'm going to do precious little with it, to tell you the truth. But you should probably have it open, at least to see that I have chosen for our text this morning not even a verse but just a piece of a verse. And the verse is 53, and the phrase which we're going to consider in a somewhat topical manner is, he has filled the hungry with good things. Now, if I were to guess, the one thing that none of us is suffering from this morning, after the week that we have spent, is hunger. And yet, during the past few days, you, like me, will have heard these statements, or you will have made them—people saying and welcoming somebody to their home, I hope you have brought your appetite with you.

Or, I couldn't eat another thing. In each case, the question or statement is in direct relationship, of course, to physical hunger. And that clearly is not on the mind of Mary here in this song that she sings. The circumstances that give rise to it are enough to stir our hearts and at the same time to stretch our minds.

Because it is the annunciation that Mary will be the mother of the Messiah, the Son of God, and that announcement has been made to her in Nazareth by the angel Gabriel. And all of that is contained in the text, although we haven't read it. My soul magnifies the Lord. Now, I would like to make just three observations in passing concerning the song. And the first is this, that it is a biblical song. It pays deference, if you like, to the song in 1 Samuel 2, which Hannah sang. And it is making frequent reference to Old Testament passages.

Four of the phrases—and one that is our phrase—is picked directly out of the Psalms. This then helps us to get some kind of a picture of Mary herself. I think I'm often tempted to see Mary as sort of dropping down out of nowhere, and it all begins with this.

But of course, she had a life before this. She must be able to sing this song and use all of this Scripture, because her growing-up years were filled with the songs of the Old Testament, were filled with the Psalms of David, that she would be aware of the promise that is rooted in Genesis 3, that she would be aware of the fact that it was through the seed of Abraham that the Messiah would come. And all of that lies at the backdrop to the song she sings. It is, then, a biblical song.

Also, it is a personal song. It is uniquely personal. In fact, the first four verses make that very, very clear, don't they?

My soul, my spirit, looked on me, all generations will call me, he who is mighty has done great things for me. So that there is a uniqueness to this song in terms of the personal engagement with Mary herself. But at the same time, what is personal to her is personal just in a way that is true of, if you like, a general principle of what is true of God and his dealings with men and women. And that's my third observation—that the song is typical.

It is typical in a general way of the experience of every Christian believer. Otherwise, there would be really no reason for us to sing this song. We would say, Well, why would we ever sing this song? Because it was a song about a unique individual in response to the fact that she was going to bear the Messiah. Well, you'll see that it changes from the first person at verse 50. And his mercy, sings Mary, is for those who fear him from generation to generation.

In other words, she looks back over her shoulder in the song, and when you see her saying, for example, he's shown strength with his arm, you think of him bringing his people out of the bondage of Egypt. And she looks forward in the awareness of the fact that generation after generation will be the beneficiaries of the mercy of God. His mercy is known by those who fear him, who reverence him, who come to him as he has made himself known. So, with these three passing comments, let's then come just to the phrase that we've taken for the morning. He has filled the hungry with good things.

Once again, let me say three things. First of all, this is the hunger of the human heart. In the Bible, the word heart and the word soul, often in the same way, is used not of that muscle that is pounding away just now and keeping each of us alive but in terms of, if you like, the control center of our very being, so that it involves both our minds, our intellects, it involves our emotions, and it involves our will. And it is because of that that the heart is then used by way of exhortation in terms of our response to God. Now, the phraseology that I said emerges from the Psalms. Our phrase here comes from Psalm 107. In verse 9, the psalmist says, For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.

So presumably Mary, as she sings out, realizes that she is singing out again what she has known from her childhood. He is the one who satisfies the longings of our hearts. He is the one who fills those who are hungry with good things. And the surrounding context is a picture of the human condition, that men and women wander, as it were, in desert spaces. And here in the psalmist who says—and they don't know where they're going, they're wandering here, there, and everywhere—a wanderer, a hungry person, a thirsty person, a restless person.

That's the picture that is the backdrop. And in the context of that, the psalmist says what Mary now says. He fills the hungry with good things. The second thing to say is that this hunger of the heart is a hunger that only God can satisfy. Well, if that is the case, why is it that men and women, aware of that hunger, being told that God is able in himself and only in himself to satisfy that hunger—why is it that men and women are not turning in their droves to God to say, O God, satisfy the longings of my heart? Well, the answer to that—the short answer to that—is that our hearts are diseased, that our hearts are actually, from our birth, antagonistic to God, that our natural thoughts and desires are not for him or to submit to him or to honor him but, like Adam and Eve in the garden, to believe the lie, to go our own way, and to seek satisfaction in everything other than himself. Now, you may not actually accept that, but I think you will be prepared to recognize that if you don't want to look into your own heart but look around you, you will see that this is the story of twenty-first-century America—the attempt that is being made on a daily basis by men and women, by young people, by boys and girls, to satisfy our longings with everything but God himself. To satisfy our longings with everything but God himself. C. S. Lewis, in The Weight of Glory, observes that in that dilemma, men and women, in seeking to satisfy themselves with what he says—and this is a long time ago—with drink and with sex and with ambition, he says, in our endeavor to fill that vacuum in that way, we are far too easily pleased. He's essentially saying, We're going for soft options to try and take care of that dilemma. And then you remember his illustration. We're like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he can't imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.

This'll do. So what? We're caught in the devil's bargain, to quote Joni Mitchell again from Woodstock.

What is that? Well, believe in the lie. That what God wants to do is to deprive us. That the Bible is somehow or another set up so that if you get into it, it'll squeeze you down, it will close you out, it will end your existence. That's the lie. That was the lie in the garden.

God doesn't want you to have this. He's depriving you. No, he wasn't.

It was the perfect plan. No, he fills the hungry with good things, and he's the only one who does. Here's a final quote from C. S. Lewis for now. This is from Pilgrim's Regress.

I never saw this before. You'll have to think this one out, but it's very good. What does not satisfy when we find it was not the thing we were desiring. We thought that was what it was.

But when we got it, we realized it wasn't. And in this dilemma, Mary sings her song, and she says of God, he fills the hungry with good things, and he's the only one who does. So it's the hunger of the human heart. God is the only one who can fill that hunger. And thirdly and finally, only in Jesus—only in Jesus—do we find the answer to our deepest longings. Longings.

What do you long for? It's a good word, long for. It's almost onomatopoeic. There is a word in German, actually, for it that does not translate to a single word in English. It's the word zinzucht.

That's s-e-h-n-s-u-c-h-t. For those of you who immediately want to Google and see if I'm telling the truth. And this is what it is. It speaks to the issue of an internal longing for somewhere, someone, or something. And it is actually expressive of the longing of our hearts, thoughts and feelings about aspects of our life that we know are unfinished or they are in themselves imperfect. And at the same time, that then is coupled with an intense yearning for an ideal alternative experience. So it's all wrapped up in this. So I'm sitting here saying, But that is an unfinished project. That is an imperfect goal.

What am I gonna do? There must be somewhere, someone out there, somehow or another. That's zinzucht. At a very, very mundane and trivial level, we could honestly say that if we never had a notion of the word, surely the few days after Christmas and in prospect of New Year are ideal territory for discovering the reality of this. Think about it. At a very mundane level, we may already feel robbed by the fact that Christmas was over and so fast. And all of that endeavor to get to it. And now we're left with ribbons and wrapping and returns!

And happy memories true, yes. But why did Christmas go so quickly? Was it something that we said?

How come it just slipped out? Our good friend, my big brother, as I call him, Sinclair Ferguson, is honest enough in one of his books to identify this very issue in his own young life. Growing up in Glasgow on the night of Christmas Day, when all of the festivities were over and when it was time for bed, he writes, I used to get my presents and the paper and wrap them up again in the hope that the magic of the day would last until the twenty-sixth.

It never does. Because that's not where the magic is. The magic, as C. S. Lewis says, is the deeper magic from before the dawn of time. Now, that little phrase—"the dawn of time"—is the opening line of our closing song, which we'll come to in just a moment or two. Chosen because the song states very clearly how in Jesus we have one who has saved completely all who draw near to God through him. Well, how would that happen?

How does that happen? You see, what needs to happen is God has to do something. And God is the one who took the initiative with Mary, and God is the one who takes the initiative with each of us.

This is what he does. First of all, he illumines our minds. Or, if you like, he opens our spiritual eyes so that passages that we've known for a hundred years or things that we've only just discovered but could make no sense of at all suddenly come to light. And he illumines our minds by the truth of the gospel—that we no longer need to try and work our way up to some acceptance with God, because there is in Christ a righteousness which is credited to us through faith in him. So he illumines my mind through the truth of the gospel. He then comes and sets me free from the bondage of my heart to my own sinful endeavors. He washes clean my inordinate affections. And inwardly, then, he motivates me to live in the light of the truth of his Word, to discover that his law is actually for me in Christ a pathway to freedom, rather than a bondage.

In other words, he works in such a way that I might love what he loves. Well, that actually does sound a bit like a transplant, doesn't it? It almost sounds like a whole new birth.

Well, it is a whole new birth. That's why Jesus said to Nicodemus, Nicodemus, let's just cut to the chase. Unless a man is born again, born from above, he can't see the kingdom of God. It's something God does. He responds to our cries. When we are honest enough and humble enough to acknowledge it.

You know, that's the real issue, and with this I close. Hunger is the indispensable condition of spiritual blessing. Those who have no consciousness of need, those who are complacent and who respond by saying, I'm just not hungry. He sends them away. He fills the hungry and sends the rich away empty.

That's not a comment on the amount of money in your bank balance. It is a picture of the notion of self-sufficiency. It is a picture of the notion of complacency. So the person says, No, fine. I'm gonna go and continue to chase my dreams. Thank you for sharing this with me. I realize that you have a very strong view on this, that this hunger of the human heart is answered solely in God and that he does this through the person of his Son, the Lord Jesus, by the work of the Holy Spirit. I get all of that.

Thank you very much. And maybe I'll see you again next year. I'm just not hungry. Anybody hungry? Jesus said, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger.

Whoever believes in me shall not thirst. Fascinating, really, isn't it? Bread and water. Not actually luxury items. No, essential for living.

And actually essential for dying too. Anybody hungry? A final word to the children who sat through all of that and tried to understand at least some of it, I think you probably got the part about our friend wanting to rewrap his Christmas presents. Because no matter if you got the thing you wanted, deep down, you still say, Oh dear, why do I feel the way I do?

Because the thing that you wanted, you see, that you thought would make you really, really happy cannot do that. And so it's a wonderful opportunity to say to Jesus, Jesus, you're the only one that can make me happy. You're the only one who can fill my heart. I want you to come and do that for me. I want you to come and live in me. And the only reason you'll do that is because God has actually opened your eyes. You can do that. You go home in the car.

Tell your mom, It's what I'm doing today. Whitfield, in his journals many years ago, writes, on Christmas Eve, Oh, if there is only one soul who will trust in Christ tomorrow, then it will be a happy Christmas indeed. Well, who knows? Trusting in Jesus for our salvation—salvation that is the most wonderful gift we can receive any time of the year. Today's message is titled, Anybody Hungry? You're listening to Truth for Life with Alistair Begg. The gift of salvation that Alistair just mentioned is something we can't earn on our own. And Alistair is here to give us a brief comment on that today and to explain how the teaching on Truth for Life works in the lives of listeners all around the world.

Alistair? Thanks, Bob. We were just reminded that unless the Spirit of God opens our eyes to his truth, we can't even see his kingdom. And God has ordained his word in such a way that this happens.

And that, of course, is why we teach the Bible on a daily basis here at Truth for Life, recognizing that the Spirit of God does the work of God in the lives of God's people. There isn't actually a day goes by when we don't get a letter or an email from someone saying just that. They write to thank us for the program, for the free online teaching, to let us know that God has proven himself evident in their lives as they've been listening. And you probably won't be surprised to learn that this year we've been receiving more mail than ever, not only from the United States, but we've heard from listeners in Australia, South Africa, India, Japan, to name just a few, and all of them writing to tell us how much they have come to rely on the Word of God that has come to them through Truth for Life, particularly during this pandemic. So let me pass along their gratitude to you, and also remind you that Truth for Life is 100% listener funded, that it's your giving that brings Truth for Life to this very large and growing global audience every day. And as you know, this time of the year is vitally important to us. We rely on you to get in touch, to make a generous donation, so that we might be able to continue to do the same work in 2021. Bob will tell you how you can do that today. Thank you.

Thank you, Alistair. You can support the work of the gospel through Truth for Life in 2021 by giving a much needed year-end donation today. Simply give online right now at truthforlife.org slash donate, or you can call us at 888-588-7884. When you do, we want to invite you to request a book titled Exploring the Bible Together. This is a family devotional plan that takes you through selected readings from Genesis all the way to Revelation over the course of a year. You can request Exploring the Bible Together when you give by tapping on the image you see on the mobile app, or you can request it online at truthforlife.org.

You can also call us to donate at 888-588-7884. Finally, if you're looking for a way to share God's Word with others in the year ahead, consider a Bible that we've just added to our store. This is a complete ESV Bible that comes in a soft cover, and it's priced so you can give it away. The Bible is available for purchase from Truth for Life for just two dollars. You'll find it online at truthforlife.org slash store, or you can place your order when you call 888-588-7884. I'm Bob Lapine. Be sure to join us tomorrow as we consider what Jesus and the apostles believed about the Bible. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.