[0:00] Well, good morning. Today we are going to dive into Luke chapter 1.
[0:11] ! We're going to look at two characters mainly.! Zechariah is the one who should have known. He should have been the one to get it, to understand what was happening.
[0:26] And also then we're going to look at Mary. Who should have been the one who didn't know. She wouldn't have understood because of her position, because of her lack of education, lack of training, just her youth, where she was from.
[0:45] And to kind of get us started, we're going to start in Luke chapter 1 verse 5 with this statement. In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah.
[0:58] Zechariah of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, also a priestly tribe, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.
[1:17] Don't misunderstand Luke to be saying that Zechariah and Elizabeth were perfect, but just that they were living upright. God recognized that in the way that they lived.
[1:27] They honored the Lord in the way that they lived their lives. But, and here's where the twist comes in. This is where Zechariah and Elizabeth, although they both came from the priestly tribe of Aaron, they were raised as priests.
[1:45] They served, Zechariah served as a priest in the house of the Lord. And yet they had this. That was a problem that was difficult for them to experience.
[1:57] They had no child because Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in years. Now, some would say that the phrase advanced in years meant that they were both over 80 years old.
[2:13] We don't know if that's exactly true, but more than likely there was probably somewhere in their 70s or 80s at this time. So this is significant. They were done expecting to have children and they had none.
[2:29] But there are some things that we're going to find out that I wanted to go over with first before we really dive into the story. That as we look into this story between Zechariah and Mary, three unchangeable truths.
[2:45] That even when his authority seems irrelevant, or you might also write the word there unimportant. And if there was a time in history where God seemed irrelevant or his authority seemed irrelevant, or unimportant, it was that time.
[3:06] King Herod, Luke tells us, was in charge in Jerusalem in Israel during this time. King Herod, the Tetrarch, this is the guy who was extremely evil, who was only interested in retaining his throne.
[3:26] That was basically a throne in title only given to him by Rome, but he cherished it above everything else. He killed three of his sons because he was just concerned that they might try to overthrow him.
[3:41] Killed one of his wives. He had nine or ten of them. Killed one of them for the same reason. This is the guy who, who had the birth of Jesus declared that anyone two years old and younger in Bethlehem, any male child, would be slaughtered because he viewed it as a threat to his reign.
[4:02] This is how wicked and how evil this man was. During this time, it was that Zechariah heard from an angel.
[4:16] Zechariah, we're introduced to him. He's a priest. In the line of Abijah, in the grouping of Abijah, there was 24 different teams of priests, if you will, that would rotate in the schedule in the temple.
[4:33] His team, if you will, Abijah, they were not very important. In fact, they didn't even get to reside in Jerusalem. They resided in the hill country outside of Jerusalem.
[4:46] That's how unimportant they were in the scheme of things. And yet, he is about to receive this incredible honor that not every priest in Jerusalem would have had the honor of doing.
[4:59] But we see this story being set up. We might even say that today, God seems irrelevant in our world today, or unimportant, or his authority seems that way.
[5:16] That we see corruption from a political perspective. We see corruption from a religious perspective. We see churches and pastors and leaders who are giving up on some of the basic tenets of the faith.
[5:31] And Zechariah, at the same time, would have seen the same kind of corruption where the priesthood and the leaders in Jerusalem, both politically and religiously, seemed only interested in power and authority.
[5:45] Certainly, that was borne out during Jesus' lifetime as he served in his earthly ministry. Secondly, even when he seems to be absent, God is still aware of your every sorrow.
[5:59] We mentioned that Elizabeth was barren, that they had no children. And if there was a mark on a couple, if there was what it seemed like that God's blessing wasn't upon someone, there were two categories of people.
[6:13] One was a single man who never married. That would kind of mark that person as someone who was not blessed by God. That there must be something wrong with his life.
[6:25] Secondly, was any couple who was barren, who did not have children. People viewed couples like that as being somehow something's wrong with them.
[6:35] Somehow behind closed doors where people can't see, there's something going on there that God recognizes and refuses to bless them. That wasn't the case with Zechariah and Elizabeth.
[6:47] God wanted to make that very clear. And when Luke wrote this story, he made sure to include this idea that they were righteous people. God recognized that. But still, in the public's eye, it was a problem for them.
[7:04] And then thirdly, even when things seem impossible, God is able to do the unimaginable. And that's what this first part of Luke is about. It's the birth story of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the Messiah, both God and man at the same time.
[7:23] Sometimes we take that for granted. We should not. The idea that Jesus is both fully God and fully man is something that we hold dear as one of our cherished doctrines that must be true.
[7:36] If he is either not fully God or not fully man, than his qualifications for offering his own life as a sacrifice for our sins, and him being the sacrifice for our sins, none of that would have mattered without this incredible truth of the incarnation, Jesus, both God and man, at the same time.
[8:00] So, back in our story. Verse 8. Now, while he was serving as priest before God, when his division, his team was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by Lot.
[8:13] So they would draw Lots to see who would go into the holy place in the temple. Not the holy of holies, but just outside of that most holy place, into the holy place, where there was the table of the showbread and the candelabra and the altar of incense.
[8:32] He was chosen by Lot to enter into the temple of the Lord and to burn incense. This, for Zechariah, was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
[8:45] Not every priest got chosen for this because of the number of priests that served in this way. Not everyone would have had the opportunity to serve in this way in the temple, in the holy place.
[8:57] And once you've done it one time, then you're not eligible again the rest of your life. So this is his one and only time to have this opportunity, this unique opportunity, to go into the temple, to go into the holy place, and to burn incense there in the temple on behalf of the people.
[9:19] And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And this burning of incense represented the prayers of the people for the rescuing, the redemption of, the restoring of Israel.
[9:35] That's what they were praying for, that God would come and redeem his people and set up his kingdom. This was the prayer that they were offering. The incense represented that prayer.
[9:46] And as he was doing this, and so he's setting the incense aflame as he's pouring the probably something like frankincense, we get that from the Christmas story, over the flame, and that smoke is billowing up, and it is a sweet aroma to the Lord.
[10:04] And as that smoke clears, aha, there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him.
[10:18] That phrase, fear fell upon him, it's almost as if he fainted because of the fear that he had. And this is a normal response when someone sees an angel of the Lord.
[10:29] This is a mighty occurrence. This is, for him to see this angel in his might would have been something to behold and would have stricken fear in any one of us.
[10:44] And certainly for Zechariah, it struck fear in his heart as well. But the angel said to him, do not be afraid, Zechariah, a familiar phrase that the angel speaks to people when they see an angel.
[11:00] For your prayer has been heard. Now, understand, this is not Zechariah's prayer for the nation of Israel. This is not the offering of prayer that he was involved with with the incense.
[11:14] This is a different prayer. A prayer that he and Elizabeth probably hadn't prayed for some time. Certainly 50 years ago, if they're 80 years old, 50 years ago, they might have prayed this.
[11:28] 60 years ago, they might have prayed this prayer. 40 years ago, 30 years ago, perhaps, they might have still been praying this prayer. But certainly by the time they're 80, not anymore.
[11:43] But Zechariah, your prayer has been heard and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son. You shall call his name John.
[11:57] Zechariah, your prayers, your and Elizabeth's prayers, they've been answered. And you will finally have a son in your old age.
[12:08] It reminds us of Abraham and Sarah in the Old Testament. You will have joy and gladness. Many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord.
[12:21] He's talking about how their son John, who we would come to know as John the Baptist, would become the forerunner of the Messiah himself, preparing the way for Jesus to come and to begin his ministry.
[12:37] Verse 15, and he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb, which is a unique opportunity that not many people in Old Testament times would have had to have the filling of the Holy Spirit upon them, the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon them.
[12:59] And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God and will go before him, before the Messiah, in the spirit and power of Elijah. People will be reminded of Elijah's ministry in the Old Testament, his prophetic, his miraculous ministry in the Old Testament.
[13:18] To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.
[13:29] This was the purpose of John's life, was to prepare the way for the Lord. And then here's how Zechariah responded.
[13:39] And sometimes we miss the things that happen in here because we're just kind of reading text and we don't see it. Zechariah said to the angel, how shall I know this?
[13:54] In other words, what Zechariah is saying, I need some proof. How do I know that this is really going to happen? And he says, for I'm an old man. So Zechariah, he's not afraid of calling himself an old man.
[14:08] But he's not about to call his wife an old woman. He gets a little bit more judicious in his choice of words. And my wife is advanced in years.
[14:21] But this is an expression of his doubt. This is an expression of his unbelief, if you will. But notice again how the angel responds.
[14:33] The angel answered him, I, listen, Zechariah, I am Gabriel. If you know anything about your Old Testament, and Zechariah would have, I, I, I, listen, I stand in the presence of God.
[14:48] Zechariah, you have no idea the things I've seen. All these incredible events down through all of human history, I've been witness to, been a part of.
[15:03] I stand in the presence of God. And I was sent specifically to speak to you and to bring you this good news. Zechariah. And behold, because of your unbelief, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place.
[15:22] Because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time. Zechariah, just because you didn't believe, just because you questioned and you doubted, that doesn't mean that this is not going to happen anymore.
[15:36] That what was being told to you, what was being prophesied in this moment about you bearing a child, you and your wife Elizabeth having a child, a son named John, this was still going to happen.
[15:49] But you will be struck mute. And the people were waiting for Zechariah outside of the holy place and they were wondering at his delay in the temple, what's going on? Why is he being delayed?
[16:01] Because sometimes bad things would happen to the priests when they went into the holy place and they would be stricken dead because of unconfessed sin or things like that.
[16:12] So they were wondering, they were worried about Zechariah. And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them. They realized that he had seen a vision in the temple, something about his face, something about his expressions, whatever it was, they realized something had happened in the holy place.
[16:30] They didn't know what because he couldn't tell them what happened. There was no idea. They didn't know what had happened. They just knew something did happen. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute.
[16:43] Now, I don't know if any of those, you know, what was he doing? You know, was he like, sounds like two words and then started doing some charades.
[16:54] We don't know. We don't know. But he's trying to communicate in any way that he possibly can because he can't talk. And he was still unsuccessful.
[17:06] And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home. And after these days, his wife, Elizabeth, sure enough, conceived.
[17:19] Miraculous. Basically, an 80-year-old woman who becomes pregnant. And for five months, she kept herself hidden.
[17:31] Why would she do that? Saying, thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me to take away my reproach.
[17:44] The way that the people viewed Zechariah and Elizabeth was not good. God had something against them. But now in her old age, in her advanced years, she's now conceived.
[18:02] And she's wanting to make sure this is really going to happen. So she waits for five months before she goes out in public whatsoever. And then the people see her.
[18:12] And she's pregnant. And she's pregnant. Wow. And her reproach is taken away. For God has allowed this to happen in her old age.
[18:28] Now, let's take a look at these two responses of the two people. First, Zechariah. And then after we read Mary's portion, we'll look at Mary's response to the promise that was made to them.
[18:41] First, Zechariah did not believe God's promise. I mean, he was trained as a priest, right? He knew the scriptures. He could read. He should have known.
[18:54] And yet, he still doubted. He still didn't believe. And his disbelief caused him to doubt God and demand evidence.
[19:06] And that's not looked on kindly by God. I mean, we see that at times with Jesus. You know, Jesus talks about even after they had just seen a miracle, people demanding more miracles.
[19:20] And Jesus is like, enough. That's all you care about. That's all you're thinking about is the miracles. God is in your presence and you're missing the point.
[19:35] But God was still gracious to Zechariah. Even though he doubted, even though he questioned God, even though he didn't believe, the statement by the angel says, point blank, he didn't believe.
[19:50] having been stricken mute, having been stricken mute was God's way of confirming his promise. Zechariah, just to confirm the promise that was made, you're going to be mute until the boy is born.
[20:07] You're done talking. You're not going to, you're not going to be able to communicate with your words. So eventually he'd get some sort of tablet and some sort of chalk or something and be able to write messages and so on.
[20:21] But you can imagine in Zechariah and Elizabeth's house, it was pretty quiet for the next nine months. And then next week, we'll see what happens when John is born.
[20:37] But moving on to Mary's portion of the story, in the sixth month of her pregnancy, the angel Gabriel, once again, same angel, was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth.
[20:53] Nazareth. Nazareth was a nothing little town in Galilee that held a Roman garrison. There was not anything good that would come out of that as Nathaniel's comment when Jesus, when he was confronted with Jesus as being the Messiah, how could anything good come out of Nazareth?
[21:17] But still in Nazareth, there was this virgin, the troth to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary.
[21:27] They're actually both of the house of David. Matthew's genealogy lets us know that Joseph's line was through David, through his son Solomon, and Mary's line also was through David, through David's son Nathan.
[21:46] And so, here we're introduced to Mary. Probably a teenager, at this point. 15, 16 years old. Somewhere around there.
[21:56] That was the marrying age for most in that culture. Joseph would have been older. That was normal. And responsible.
[22:08] And preparing a home. There's all kinds of stuff we can get into at another time prophetically about that. But this angel came to Mary and said, Greetings, O favored one.
[22:22] The Lord is with you. Now, depending on which version you read, you might hear something like this. Hail, Mary, full of grace.
[22:35] Okay? That's where a familiar phrase comes from out of this. The Lord is with you. We'll talk about this momentarily.
[22:46] But she was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this must be. And so, she's confused, obviously. And again, the angel says to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
[23:06] And understand that this is something that Mary is given. She is given grace. You have found favor. It's not that she was already had grace of her own, but she was given grace.
[23:21] And we'll explain the significance of that here in a bit. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.
[23:36] And the Lord will give to him the throne of his father, David. These next few statements make it very clear that she's about to give birth to the Messiah, the promised Son of God, the Messiah, the one who's been promised from old.
[23:53] The Lord will give to him the throne of his father, David, as God had promised in covenant with David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob for how long? The house of Jacob.
[24:04] Jacob was renamed Israel. So he is going to have the throne over Israel forever. And of his kingdom there will be no end.
[24:15] So this is very clear here to Mary that she is going to be conceived and carry the Son of God, the one who was promised, the one who would bring his kingdom to Israel, who would set all things right, who would fulfill all the promises that God had made to the nation of Israel.
[24:40] And Mary said to the angel, the question, how will this be since I am a virgin? So she might have been young, 15, 16 years old, but she knew some basic biology.
[24:55] Okay? Mama taught her well. She understood that in order to conceive and have a baby, something had to happen first. And that hadn't happened for her yet.
[25:07] Okay? She'd not been married yet. She hadn't been with a man in that way, hadn't known a man. You might be familiar with that Old Testament way of saying it. And the angel answered her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
[25:25] The overshadow you is the same word used, the Greek translation of the Old Testament word, and then in the New Testament, the Shekinah glory that led Israel through the wilderness.
[25:38] The Mount of Transfiguration where Jesus appears in all of His glory before three of the disciples, that glory that overshadowed Him.
[25:50] It's the same word that's used here that she would be overshadowed, will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called Holy, the Son of God.
[26:02] And behold, your relative Elizabeth. Now here's Mary's confirmation. Here's how Gabriel is letting her know that her cousin Elizabeth, your relative Elizabeth, is also pregnant and carrying a child in her old age.
[26:19] And so, Mary, just so that you understand the miraculous nature of what's happening here, your 80-year-old relative, Elizabeth, is now pregnant and is in the sixth month with her who was called barren.
[26:38] She'd never conceived before. For nothing will be impossible with God. Oftentimes, you'll see that last phrase, verse 37, pulled out of context.
[26:50] This is what God is doing with Elizabeth and with Mary and saying, nothing is impossible with God. And that is true. There's a sense where we can't put God in a box and say, well, this miraculous thing can't happen.
[27:04] And God says, watch. And he does. And Mary said, behold, that we would respond this way when confronted with God's will.
[27:20] Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. The word servant here is doulos. Perhaps better translated as slave. This is not someone who is given a choice.
[27:34] This slave is someone who is completely, must be completely obedient to the Lord. And she voluntarily is saying, I am your slave, Lord.
[27:46] Let it be done to me according to your word. My life is an open book. It's an open page. And I don't know what this is going to mean.
[27:58] I don't know how my life is going to be disrupted. I know that there's going to be some difficulties. I know there's going to be some hardships here with this. I don't even know if I, I don't.
[28:09] She doesn't have a clue what's coming. Even in the short term, trying to explain to people how in the world are you pregnant and you say that you've never been with a man.
[28:22] that's not possible, honey. And she's going to have to face all of this. But she still submits, surrenders.
[28:35] Let it be done to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her. So look again at the difference between Zechariah and Mary.
[28:49] Mary demonstrated her humility and she believed. She believed God's promise. As part of that, she surrendered herself to God's will freely, quickly.
[29:08] She's got just the one question and it's different than Zechariah. Zechariah's declaration is different than Mary's question in this sense.
[29:23] Zechariah basically said this can't be done. This can't happen. Come on. You're going to have to give me something more because I'm not buying it.
[29:35] Where Mary in contrast basically asked how is God going to pull this off? I'm in. I don't understand how it's going to happen. And even though the angel was quick with the answer of how God's going to do this, right?
[29:52] The Holy Spirit's going to come upon you and he will overshadow you. It's like we get that. Okay, that's the how. Now, tell me again how did it happen?
[30:04] Can we explain that? Of course not. I can't explain that. I can't understand that. I accept it. I believe it. I believe that's exactly how it happened.
[30:16] But I certainly can't explain it. Neither can you. We can't understand the concept of the incarnation. That Jesus is fully God and fully man.
[30:28] Our minds cannot comprehend the significance of that and what it would take. No idea. No idea.
[30:38] And then finally what we'll look at Mary visits Elizabeth. She very quickly drops what she's doing.
[30:52] In those days Mary arose and went with haste. She's going from the north in Galilee in Nazareth. She's traveling south but up in elevation.
[31:05] So when they say in the New Testament that they went up to Jerusalem normally that meant they traveled south but up in elevation.
[31:16] So for them up and down meant elevation higher and lower. For us up and down means up to the north and down to the south. I'm going down to Florida for the winter.
[31:29] Right? That's how we talk. We don't talk about it in elevation but that's how they did. So she went with haste into the hill country to a town in Judah nearby Jerusalem.
[31:42] She entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. Now I don't think Mary texted her ahead of time to say hey this is a surprise visit right?
[31:55] By definition. Right? She's just just packing up her belongings and getting down to see her cousin Elizabeth because this incredible thing is happening to me and I need someone that I can relate to and Elizabeth is that person for her.
[32:18] And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary the baby leaped in her womb. That would be John inside her womb six months in the womb jumping up and down and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
[32:49] And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord or another way of saying mother of God should come to me.
[33:02] For behold when the sound of your greeting came to my ears the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who believed.
[33:14] She understood without having to be told that Mary accepted it. She believed. Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.
[33:27] Now I've made a couple of hints along the way here but I thought it would be good and you have this on your notes a little addendum that I thought this would be the appropriate time because the text gives us these phrases that sound familiar to some of us.
[33:49] I was born into a Catholic family was raised Catholic my first 17 years and so I'm very familiar with a certain prayer a recited prayer known as the Hail Mary and many of you I don't know about many but and I won't ask for your hands to be raised but some of you have some of that experience as well that that you are familiar with reciting this particular prayer and you know it well and in fact you know it so well that you can recite it right now even though you may not have recited it for decades it's just so ingrained in your mind and in your soul that's how it is and the prayer of course that I'm referring to is this thing called the Hail Mary and we're going to talk about this for a moment and maybe answer some of your questions about this thing called the Hail
[34:53] Mary and the Rosary that it is associated with so the prayer itself here is the text Hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus holy Mary mother of God pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death amen and some of you again are familiar with that prayer but what is it first of all and what is it for what is its purpose and if you do any kind of research on this particular prayer and its function in the rosary you know explain the rosary in just a moment you know a few things about it first of all those who are proponents of this of this prayer will say well basically the prayer is biblical and they'll make note of the first half of the prayer the first half of the prayer hail hail
[35:58] Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee that that comes from the angel Gabriel's greeting of Mary when he first confronts Mary and then the next part of that blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus is the greeting that Elizabeth gives to Mary when Mary goes to visit Elizabeth and so here is our text that's from the English Standard Version the word hail the Greek word here just means a greeting of some sort so it could be blessed it could be greetings it could be hail most of the translations that I looked at use this word another one is rejoice but it's just a typical greeting the next phrase full of grace is a little misleading in the sense that he's calling he's calling
[37:01] Mary a favored one and the word favored here comes from the Greek word for grace it's an offshoot of that word so graced one favored one the Lord is with you and then again from Elizabeth's greeting blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb so again these phrases are from the scriptures that part is true they are from the scriptures but I want us to understand a couple things about this actually before I give you that before I tell you that pretend like you didn't see it the pope in 1854 gave a new edict a new doctrinal statement concerning Mary that said this quote Mary from the moment of her conception was without sin end quote
[38:04] Mary from the moment of her conception was without sin this refers to what is known as the immaculate conception now some of you may be confused about what that means the immaculate conception you might think for instance that that's a reference to Jesus that Jesus was born without sin Jesus was indeed born without sin but the Immaculate conception!
[38:27] is the idea that Mary was born without sin and never sinned and the Pope declared that official Catholic doctrine in 1854 that Mary was born without sin and never sinned in her lifetime that is heresy that is nowhere to be found in the scriptures at all and then in 1977 Pope John Paul II also made a declaration where he said quote in union with Christ she being Mary collaborated in obtaining the grace of salvation for all humanity end quote that is complete and utter heresy the idea that
[39:33] Mary is somehow involved in providing grace for our salvation again is nowhere found in scripture and so on your notes and now you'll get to oh wait did I go past it now here we go Mary is not a dispenser of grace which is what the catholic church officially teaches that Mary is involved in dispensing grace is involved in obtaining our salvation salvation this phrase that we looked at in chapter 1 verse 30 where the angel says to her do not be afraid Mary for you have found favor the Greek word found for found favor obtained favor is in the passive tense meaning it's something she has received she has received grace the word favor there is the word for grace and it can also be translated favor but what is important for us to understand about
[40:49] God's grace the key word is that it is undeserved on our part we in no way deserve God's grace that was also true for Mary she was a recipient of God's grace just as we are so much so that later on and we're going to read the we're going to go through the magnificat which known as the magnificat my soul magnifies where it comes from but my spirit rejoices in God my savior if Mary is sinless why does she need a savior which she herself declares the only reason you would need a savior!
[41:37] because you recognize my God's sin and I have no solution for my sin my only hope is in my savior and she understood that that savior was in her womb and she was carrying that she was not somehow full of grace of her own merit that doesn't make sense it's an oxymoron you don't have grace if you are deserving of it if you are deserving of God's merit in some way then you don't need his grace doesn't make sense so Mary like us is a recipient of God's grace grace so the first part of the prayer itself the words are fine they hold no for me and and for anybody who is a student of scriptures they hold no ill statements but the second part certainly does holy
[42:50] Mary no problem there holy is another word for saint so we can and God does refer to the saints at Philippi and the saints at so forth and we are saints and so Mary is holy because the Lord makes her holy in his grace mother of God Elizabeth referred to her as the mother of the Lord so I don't really have a problem with that but this next phrase pray for us pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death this is incredibly problematic first of all just to sum up the whole part why are you not praying to God God the idea that I would pray to a person who's dead and gone to heaven doesn't make sense you pray to God right no one else is deserving of our prayers other than
[43:54] God through Christ so the idea of us praying to a human God someone who is obviously not God and asking that person to influence God on our behalf for our salvation again is straight heresy from 1st Timothy 2 5 for there is one God and there is one mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus we first of all we just don't need Mary Mary is not someone that we should be praying to we only pray to to God and then the Hail Mary is part of this thing known as the rosary some of you may even have rosary beads this is not a necklace each bead represents a different prayer
[44:58] I had rosary beads but then when I became a Christian because of what I had come out of I got rid of them I threw them away now it wouldn't bother me it wouldn't bother me today to have rosary beads in my possession because I just recognized them as just a piece of jewelry and there's nothing wrong there's nothing inherently evil about a piece of jewelry that has beads on it but these beads!
[45:28] represent specific prayers the ones that are located as ten in a row are called decades and each bead each of the ten beads means reciting the Hail Mary ten straight times and then in between you recite what we knew growing up as the Our Father the Lord's Prayer in between and then you would do another decade and the purpose of the rosary beads is not just to recite them over and over and over again which if you were anything like me growing up and I pray that you weren't but you could pray these Hail Marys in one breath right you take a breath that was wrong that was wrong of me to do that because the purpose of praying those 10 Hail Marys in a row was to be meditating upon different aspects of the life of
[46:32] Christ and Mary as you in the background of your mind are reciting these Hail Marys that's the point of it and then you would hold them in your hand and with each time you recited a prayer you would advance a bead advance forward until you went through the whole rosary but here's again more of the problem with this how Catholics view the rosary a life line to heaven a collection of beads on a string a life line to heaven I'm not quite sure I follow that the last prayer of the rosary is also very problematic it is known as hail holy queen this prayer last prayer and and some of you may not be familiar with this part this last prayer when you complete the rosary this is your concluding prayer this is a part of what you're praying hail holy queen mother of mercy our life our sweetness and our hope
[47:50] I have trouble saying this I don't believe what I just read but I have trouble just saying it because it's so blasphemous that we would take words that we would ascribe only to our Lord and Savior and give them to a person I don't get it to thee do we cry poor banished children of Eve to thee do we send up our sighs mourning and weeping in this veil of tears this is a plea to God how could I do this turn then most gracious advocate is blasphemy thine eyes of mercy toward us what in the world are we asking Mary to do for us again and after this our exile show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb
[48:57] Jesus oh Clement I even had to look that word up oh Clement and I'm thinking of some southern song Clementine or something Clement Clement just means mild like for instance inclement weather means bad weather clement weather means mild weather or merciful so you're saying oh merciful oh loving oh sweet virgin Mary the whole idea that Mary remained a virgin perpetually when the Bible makes very clear she had other children with Joseph and then things like this this is in a website a ministry called Good Catholic and I found that kind of humorous because
[49:58] I grew up with this maybe you did too like someone was Catholic or they were a good Catholic you know and you knew what a good Catholic was right so growing up I was a good Catholic because I went to mass every Sunday I served as an altar boy I was a Catholic you know that's kind of how so they have this our ladies talking about Mary our ladies 15 promises to those who pray her rosary so these are Mary's promises to you if you are willing!
[50:26] to pray her rosary so these Hail Marys and these are fathers and look at this statement it comes from this this is just copy and paste off of this website there is no problem no matter how difficult it is whether temporal or above all spiritual in the personal life of each one of us of our families that cannot be solved by the rosary they're elevating the rosary itself to a deity!
[50:56] I don't get this this is a quote from Saint Louis de Montfort who was a French priest in the 1500 or something like that they've elevated this guy to like a super saint he wrote several books on Marian theology theology of Mary that they hold in very high regard and so this guy is like his statements about Mary all these different popes have said this guy is the bomb this is what he said if you this is his statement now again I'm having trouble saying this out loud if you say the rosary faithfully until death I do assure you that in spite of the gravity of your sins you shall receive a never fading crown of glory for even if you are now on the brink of damnation even if you have one foot in hell even if you have sold your soul to the devil sooner or later you will be converted and will amend your life and save your soul if you say the rosary devoutly every day of your life thank you
[52:06] Louis I'm not buying it that is if that's not heresy I don't know what is that's despicable granted too like me most Catholics that I know have no clue about these kinds of statements they don't know it at all here here's the fifth of the 15 promises here's number five of the promises of Mary if you're going to say her rosary the soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the rosary shall not perish and just so that we make sure that we understood!
[52:46] Here's the explanation in other words anyone who faithfully prays the rosary and ask for Mary's intercession will not go to hell that is not true and if this is what you subscribe to if this is what you believe according to the scriptures you will go to hell because the Bible makes it very clear over and over and over again that is the Lord Jesus Christ it is in him that we place our faith in him alone whereby!
[53:40] we are saved! Mary is our life because she obtains for us pardon of our sins grace the last one Mary obtains this grace for sinners by her intercession thus restores them to life I don't I don't get this in Exodus chapter 20 10 commandments you shall have no other gods before me make no mistake in the words of these prayers that they are praying not the first part of the prayer the part where they're asking her to intercede to pray for us the hail queen Mary or hail queen of heaven that prayer is is absolutely deifying
[54:41] Mary you shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything you shall not bow down to them or serve them this is this is what is happening and it's interesting you'll find some defenders of the hail Mary online and they'll talk about how biblical it is except for that one little part and they'll recognize that it's not biblical but it comes from church tradition and it's added here and there and so it may as well be biblical so you have where did the hail Mary come from I have an answer for where it came from 2nd Corinthians Paul writes this chapter 11 for such men are false apostles deceitful workmen disguising themselves as apostles of Christ okay it gets worse and no wonder for even
[55:48] Satan disguises himself as an angel of light and it is no surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness their end will correspond to their deeds this is how Satan operates Satan operates within religion to carry out his agenda Jesus said this about the Pharisees in his day but people who are promoting this kind of theology I think it fits them as well you are of your father the devil and this listen I get it this sounds harsh I mean some people maybe some of you certainly people watching online are thinking boy this rich character he's just pounding the Catholics today whoo man
[56:49] I don't want to do this this is not coming from my heart this is coming from God this is coming from his word this is to help us to know the dangers!
[57:08] of believing in things that are false that are lies that are not found in the word of God when Satan lies he speaks out of his own character because that's what he is for he is a liar and the father of lies so if these things that we're saying about the Hail Mary and the rosary are lies where are they coming from?
[57:34] they're coming from Satan himself he is the father of lies the originator of all lies comes from this this does not make me feel good to announce this to say these things and you might ask well Rich does that mean that all these Catholic people are going to hell?
[57:56] I don't know the answer to that I will say this that if any Catholic has trusted Jesus Christ and him alone for salvation that's the answer that means they are saved but let me also say that that salvation that they possess would be in spite of the church that they participate in not because of because what the church is teaching them is blasphemy in many other ways than what we've talked about today so I would pray that people who are and I know people who are Catholic who have made professions of faith and have trusted Christ as savior and I pray that their salvation is genuine but at the same time it is incumbent upon us all of us to plead with people who are in any kind of a false religion and to point them to the truth of the scriptures and the truth of the gospel that is only through faith in Christ that we can be saved not faith in Christ plus our good works or faith in Christ plus oh let's add a little bit of Mary for good luck that's not it so it is blasphemous
[59:29] I don't know why the word idolatry filled in first but it's blasphemous to the point of idolatry to suggest that Mary would have any role in our salvation and then as a final warning I would say it this way Satan's goal and this is true for you even if you are here today and you've trusted Jesus well if you trusted Christ as your savior and you're a part of his family this doesn't apply to you but if you're here today and you're lost and you don't know Christ you're not sure of your salvation okay you don't have that issue settled in your heart and you would say well I don't know if I'm saved and I don't know if I've understand this
[60:41] Satan's goal is not to make you evil he doesn't care about that we get this so twisted even in the church we think that oh Satan he's just trying to make us all into a bunch of wicked people people that doesn't do him any good because when the world looks and sees someone who's wicked and evil they're like I don't want any part of that so that doesn't that doesn't help him in any way accomplish his ultimate goal which is to bring as many people down with him as he possibly can Satan's goal is just to keep you dead you could use the word lost there that's all he wants to do is just not to make you evil even if you're a good person that's fine by him okay as long as you're dead spiritually as long as you're lost that's all he cares about because in the end you belong to him that's what he cares about and one of his favorite weapons is religion and why
[62:09] I have said over and over for 25 years in this building and everywhere else I hate religion religion and religion is a dirty word because Satan loves to use religion people who look good who on the outside oh they seem so righteous they seem so true and if you look at any given church or pastor or priest or whatever it is and they're not teaching the truth Satan loves that be religious pray your prayers go to church contribute to the church do all of these things but by no means recognize your own sinfulness and your own hopelessness without Christ and give your life to him and trust him don't do that just just keep being religious it's good enough just just keep going to church just keep singing the songs that's fine
[63:21] I love that Satan would say just don't give your life to Christ that's drastic those they're over the top you don't have to just be good enough what is it over 50% of the people who wear the label of Christian believe that you just have to be good to get to heaven that's from the pit of hell it is about your relationship to Christ have you trusted him have you recognized have you repented of your sin and said Lord I am hopeless without you Mary herself recognized she needed a savior and she trusted him with her life I don't think if
[64:25] I don't know how this works but if Mary could see the way people are venerating her I think that would break her heart so I would plead with you and I would encourage you to plead with those who you know need to hear the truth of the gospel and need to be exposed to the false teaching that they are perhaps a part of Lord we thank you so much for the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ that you have come to save us to redeem us to rescue us from our sin help us to recognize that we are hopelessly lost without you and there is nothing that we could ever do to earn or deserve your grace and your mercy
[65:32] I pray Lord that you would help us to recognize the truth of your word that is so clear that our one and only mediator the only one that we need is Jesus that would be Mary's confession may it be our confession it is only through Christ that we can be saved help us not to muddy the waters to bring confusion to make it difficult for people to understand the truth what we need to hear what we need to know what others need to hear and to know Lord we love you thank you for making a way of salvation
[66:33] Lord I pray for pastors who represent the word of God that we would be bold enough to declare the simple truth of the gospel and to declare the false gospels when we see them Lord pray that if anyone here today does not know you as Lord and Savior that even today they would recognize their need turn from their sin and trust you in Christ alone is our salvation again we give you thanks and praise in Jesus name amen all right everybody thank you for coming have a great week voy