WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.280 Now please do grab your Bibles again and turn to Luke chapter 1. 00:00:07.339 --> 00:00:11.339 ! We'll be focusing in on verses 46 to 56. 00:00:11.339 --> 00:00:13.480 ! 00:00:13.480 --> 00:00:14.240 Luke chapter 1. 00:00:22.240 --> 00:00:25.600 My soul magnifies the Lord. 00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:28.480 Did you see Mary says that in verse 46? 00:00:28.480 --> 00:00:32.719 My soul magnifies the Lord. 00:00:34.179 --> 00:00:37.620 Mary here is pregnant with the Lord Jesus in her womb. 00:00:38.120 --> 00:00:45.379 She knows the Lord God has come to earth and has become a baby in her womb right now. 00:00:46.539 --> 00:00:53.439 She sees what God is doing in the world and in her life and she bursts into song and cries out, 00:00:53.859 --> 00:00:56.679 My soul magnifies the Lord. 00:00:56.679 --> 00:00:59.299 Now what does that mean? 00:00:59.859 --> 00:01:04.560 It means God is made big in my soul. 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:14.680 I am beginning to grasp the bigness of God in my life and my soul praises, expresses that bigness. 00:01:14.680 --> 00:01:20.000 So, this doesn't mean like a magnifying glass. 00:01:20.780 --> 00:01:21.560 It's not that. 00:01:21.640 --> 00:01:23.300 So, what does a magnifying glass do? 00:01:23.920 --> 00:01:28.080 A magnifying glass takes what is actually small, like a bug. 00:01:28.740 --> 00:01:33.400 It's actually small, but a magnifying glass makes it look bigger than it really is, doesn't it? 00:01:33.400 --> 00:01:36.200 But that's not what Mary's saying. 00:01:36.880 --> 00:01:42.540 She isn't saying God is actually really small, but my soul is making him look bigger than he is. 00:01:42.640 --> 00:01:42.940 No. 00:01:44.060 --> 00:01:48.200 When our souls magnify the Lord, it's more like a telescope. 00:01:49.480 --> 00:01:50.600 What does a telescope do? 00:01:51.080 --> 00:01:53.960 A telescope magnifies in a different way. 00:01:53.959 --> 00:02:02.099 A telescope looks at what is actually big, like a galaxy or a star, something huge. 00:02:03.099 --> 00:02:05.439 But we normally think it's small. 00:02:05.959 --> 00:02:08.979 We normally think it's just kind of a speck up there in the sky. 00:02:09.419 --> 00:02:16.120 And a telescope magnifies it, so we begin to see it how it really is. 00:02:17.039 --> 00:02:25.859 A telescope magnifies it, what we think is small, and it blows it up in our eyes, so we begin to see how big it really is. 00:02:25.860 --> 00:02:31.200 And we think, whoa, that galaxy up there, that is actually huge. 00:02:32.940 --> 00:02:35.540 Well, that is what's going on in Mary's soul here. 00:02:36.380 --> 00:02:43.260 She sees what God is doing in her life, doing in the world, and God is seen as big in her soul. 00:02:44.180 --> 00:02:50.380 She starts to see how big he really is, and her soul, her words, her praises reflect that bigness. 00:02:51.640 --> 00:02:54.380 You could say, Mary really understands Christmas. 00:02:54.379 --> 00:02:59.500 Because Christmas is about God showing himself to be big. 00:03:00.620 --> 00:03:07.819 The Lord Jesus coming to earth, growing side of a womb, being born as a baby, this is God showing that he is big. 00:03:08.120 --> 00:03:11.180 He's bigger than the powers of this world. 00:03:12.259 --> 00:03:14.620 He's bigger than the ways of this world. 00:03:14.939 --> 00:03:18.120 He's bigger than the troubles in our lives. 00:03:19.659 --> 00:03:20.740 And Mary gets it. 00:03:20.740 --> 00:03:26.100 She sees Christmas isn't really about the presents and the turkey and the festivity. 00:03:26.099 --> 00:03:31.139 She sees Christmas is about God doing something mighty. 00:03:32.180 --> 00:03:35.180 Bringing salvation to a world of sinners. 00:03:35.659 --> 00:03:39.579 Sending a saviour to raise up the small and unworthy. 00:03:41.240 --> 00:03:44.859 Christmas is God showing that he is bigger than you could possibly imagine. 00:03:44.860 --> 00:03:50.980 So, place your eye onto the lens of Mary's soul. 00:03:51.860 --> 00:03:59.560 And you see that she grasps that God has done a big thing by sending his son as a baby. 00:03:59.840 --> 00:04:02.180 You realise, God is big. 00:04:03.560 --> 00:04:06.560 My soul magnifies the Lord. 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:13.379 But we often feel the opposite to this at Christmas time, don't we? 00:04:14.819 --> 00:04:16.759 Look into your soul right now. 00:04:18.199 --> 00:04:22.500 For most of us, God does not feel big in our soul, does he? 00:04:23.959 --> 00:04:28.480 God can so often feel like a distant speck far, far away. 00:04:28.480 --> 00:04:36.100 And the things of this world, the troubles of our lives, that's what fills our souls. 00:04:37.460 --> 00:04:41.420 Our souls, naturally, we don't magnify the Lord. 00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:45.080 Our souls magnify other things. 00:04:46.580 --> 00:04:49.240 Just look at what the world magnifies this Christmas time. 00:04:49.920 --> 00:04:51.120 Look at the adverts. 00:04:51.939 --> 00:04:54.560 Look where people's time and money is spent. 00:04:54.560 --> 00:04:57.899 What does the world see as big and important? 00:04:59.800 --> 00:05:02.939 What does the world say at Christmas time? 00:05:04.379 --> 00:05:07.660 My soul magnifies my Amazon wish list. 00:05:08.939 --> 00:05:10.779 That's what's big in our souls, isn't it? 00:05:11.639 --> 00:05:12.879 And it's not just at Christmas time. 00:05:13.019 --> 00:05:14.240 Just look at our world. 00:05:14.920 --> 00:05:17.579 Look how we treat God every day. 00:05:18.779 --> 00:05:23.980 God is seen as a distant speck, barely even acknowledged in this nation. 00:05:23.980 --> 00:05:26.160 He's treated as irrelevant. 00:05:26.360 --> 00:05:27.300 Even worse. 00:05:28.400 --> 00:05:31.800 The world says, my life is fine without God. 00:05:32.640 --> 00:05:36.780 The world sings, my soul magnifies myself. 00:05:38.400 --> 00:05:40.300 We've made God small. 00:05:40.300 --> 00:05:57.560 But even for us in Christ, who know God is big, who rejoice in God, we can still find God is eclipsed in our lives by other things. 00:05:58.699 --> 00:06:01.480 We can still feel like God is small. 00:06:01.480 --> 00:06:08.800 Christmas time can be one of the loneliest and darkest times of the year, can't it? 00:06:10.140 --> 00:06:14.560 We find the lens of our soul can only focus on that darkness. 00:06:16.259 --> 00:06:19.060 And what is the big thing we find in our souls? 00:06:20.439 --> 00:06:21.300 It's sadness. 00:06:22.879 --> 00:06:23.640 Emptiness. 00:06:25.240 --> 00:06:25.800 Loneliness. 00:06:25.800 --> 00:06:28.819 It's pain and grief and anxiety. 00:06:30.420 --> 00:06:32.879 These things can feel overwhelming. 00:06:33.340 --> 00:06:35.160 They're the big things in our souls. 00:06:36.780 --> 00:06:39.939 Financial worries are the things that we can only think about. 00:06:40.180 --> 00:06:41.819 The fears of what the future holds. 00:06:42.100 --> 00:06:43.680 That's the big thing in my heart. 00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:51.500 I want to see God as big, but my soul just seems to magnify my pain and my sadness. 00:06:51.500 --> 00:06:55.459 That's what is eclipsing my life. 00:06:55.860 --> 00:06:57.959 God does, he doesn't feel big. 00:06:58.060 --> 00:06:59.220 My grief does. 00:07:00.759 --> 00:07:03.660 My life is a mess, and that's what my soul magnifies. 00:07:03.720 --> 00:07:04.759 That's all I can see. 00:07:06.660 --> 00:07:11.920 Well, if that is you, we will see today, Jesus has come to change that. 00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:21.620 As we look at Mary's reaction to Christmas, to God coming into this world, we see that God has come to undo all of that in our hearts. 00:07:23.020 --> 00:07:27.460 Christmas is about God knowing we don't magnify him in our souls. 00:07:28.660 --> 00:07:30.020 Other things take priority. 00:07:30.340 --> 00:07:31.580 Other things come in view. 00:07:31.579 --> 00:07:42.879 But Jesus has come to change that, to reverse that, to make us see the bigness of God, and to take all those other things in our souls and to make them smaller. 00:07:44.539 --> 00:07:47.459 To turn the gloom in our lives into joy. 00:07:49.159 --> 00:07:50.399 And how is he doing that? 00:07:50.959 --> 00:07:52.219 Well, we need to look at Mary. 00:07:53.319 --> 00:07:59.319 In Mary, we see that God makes himself big by choosing the small. 00:07:59.319 --> 00:08:01.719 And this is the first thing I want us to see today. 00:08:01.860 --> 00:08:04.860 God makes himself big by choosing the small. 00:08:05.959 --> 00:08:07.980 So why is Mary rejoicing like this? 00:08:08.779 --> 00:08:10.759 Why does her soul magnify the Lord? 00:08:10.879 --> 00:08:16.000 Well, she looks down at her womb, which is probably not even a bump yet. 00:08:16.819 --> 00:08:24.680 And she realizes that the Lord God has come to earth, and he's come as a baby inside of her womb. 00:08:25.759 --> 00:08:27.480 Did you see that back in verse 43? 00:08:27.480 --> 00:08:30.560 So Mary is visiting her cousin Elizabeth. 00:08:31.280 --> 00:08:35.680 And Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, she speaks of the reality of this pregnancy. 00:08:36.320 --> 00:08:37.100 Verse 43. 00:08:38.539 --> 00:08:46.000 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord, God, should come to me? 00:08:47.980 --> 00:08:51.820 They both realize that inside Mary's womb is the Lord. 00:08:52.639 --> 00:08:53.560 It's God. 00:08:53.559 --> 00:08:58.239 Do you know that Christmas song, Mary, Did You Know? 00:08:58.559 --> 00:09:00.359 It's probably being played all the time right now. 00:09:01.319 --> 00:09:02.939 In that song, I won't sing it. 00:09:03.039 --> 00:09:03.799 I'll spare you that. 00:09:04.199 --> 00:09:06.539 It's a line in this song that says this. 00:09:06.959 --> 00:09:11.179 Mary, did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation? 00:09:12.759 --> 00:09:13.579 Have you heard that? 00:09:14.339 --> 00:09:16.299 Well, we can answer that song today. 00:09:16.359 --> 00:09:17.219 We can answer that question. 00:09:17.220 --> 00:09:19.040 Yeah, she knew. 00:09:19.899 --> 00:09:21.879 You don't need to listen to that song anymore. 00:09:21.960 --> 00:09:22.300 There you go. 00:09:22.379 --> 00:09:22.840 There's the answer. 00:09:22.980 --> 00:09:23.540 She knew. 00:09:25.180 --> 00:09:34.820 And of all people, of all people, God has chosen Mary to hold the Lord in her womb. 00:09:34.820 --> 00:09:40.980 Mary is likely a teenager when she becomes pregnant by the Holy Spirit. 00:09:42.800 --> 00:09:43.920 And what's her life like? 00:09:44.040 --> 00:09:45.020 She's not royalty. 00:09:46.220 --> 00:09:47.420 She's not rich. 00:09:47.720 --> 00:09:50.060 She's likely a peasant girl. 00:09:50.620 --> 00:09:51.760 She's probably pleasant as well. 00:09:53.020 --> 00:09:54.720 She's basically a nobody. 00:09:54.720 --> 00:10:08.300 And God has chosen her of all people, that this small, peasant girl nobody, to be the mother of God in the flesh. 00:10:10.340 --> 00:10:17.399 God is using this small, unremarkable girl and using her to bring the saviour of humanity into the world. 00:10:18.540 --> 00:10:19.800 Look at verse 47. 00:10:19.799 --> 00:10:25.839 My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my saviour. 00:10:26.139 --> 00:10:31.500 For, because, he has looked on the humble estate of his servants. 00:10:32.519 --> 00:10:35.919 For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed. 00:10:37.479 --> 00:10:40.019 For he who is mighty has done great things for me. 00:10:42.299 --> 00:10:44.740 Humble estate here, it means her lowliness. 00:10:45.740 --> 00:10:48.799 It means her unworthiness, her nothingness. 00:10:49.799 --> 00:10:52.319 God didn't choose Mary because she was impressive. 00:10:52.500 --> 00:10:54.839 He didn't choose Mary because she deserved it. 00:10:54.959 --> 00:10:55.219 No. 00:10:55.879 --> 00:10:58.879 She wasn't sinless or anything like that. 00:10:59.559 --> 00:10:59.799 No. 00:11:00.079 --> 00:11:00.959 Look at verse 50. 00:11:02.120 --> 00:11:04.179 It's all because of God's mercy. 00:11:05.679 --> 00:11:14.859 In God's mercy, God has taken this little, lowly, vulnerable teenager and used her for salvation. 00:11:14.860 --> 00:11:24.820 He's taken the nothing and used it for something, something big in fact, for God's plan of salvation. 00:11:26.139 --> 00:11:32.899 God has said, you, little Mary, you will now be part of my big plan for history. 00:11:32.899 --> 00:11:32.980 Mary. 00:11:34.379 --> 00:11:36.519 And she's playing an amazing part. 00:11:37.799 --> 00:11:44.639 Mary is given the special privilege of holding the saviour in her womb for nine months. 00:11:44.639 --> 00:11:50.259 And so she's right to say, from now on all generations will call me blessed. 00:11:51.519 --> 00:11:53.819 Mary really is blessed. 00:11:54.059 --> 00:11:55.720 God showed her great favour. 00:11:55.919 --> 00:11:57.399 She had a great privilege. 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:01.639 She knew Christ in ways that we don't. 00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:04.240 She knew him as a mother. 00:12:05.799 --> 00:12:09.799 And mothers know their children in deeper ways than other people, don't they? 00:12:09.799 --> 00:12:14.639 Kids here, your mum knows you really well, doesn't she? 00:12:15.500 --> 00:12:16.399 Mums know everything. 00:12:16.500 --> 00:12:16.959 They're amazing. 00:12:17.620 --> 00:12:23.159 She knows your birthday, your doctor's name, your favourite colour, your favourite food, 00:12:23.339 --> 00:12:26.419 what you want for Christmas, what makes you happy when you're sad. 00:12:27.099 --> 00:12:30.059 She knows what's wrong, even when you don't know what's wrong. 00:12:30.779 --> 00:12:33.579 And she has a picture of you on the background of her phone. 00:12:34.979 --> 00:12:35.620 Mums are amazing. 00:12:36.139 --> 00:12:37.759 They know everything about us. 00:12:37.759 --> 00:12:38.360 Mums. 00:12:38.960 --> 00:12:41.659 Mothers know their children in special ways. 00:12:43.399 --> 00:12:48.200 And so Mary had a great privilege to know Jesus in that special way. 00:12:48.360 --> 00:12:49.039 She's blessed. 00:12:51.259 --> 00:12:54.360 Now, that doesn't mean that she was sinless, 00:12:54.980 --> 00:12:57.620 or that we should worship her or pray to her. 00:12:58.360 --> 00:13:00.259 Nothing at all suggests that here. 00:13:00.700 --> 00:13:04.379 In fact, that's the opposite point being made here. 00:13:04.379 --> 00:13:10.220 Mary magnifies the Lord in her soul and rejoices because she isn't great. 00:13:11.159 --> 00:13:13.399 She isn't someone who is worthy. 00:13:14.179 --> 00:13:16.259 She is of a humble estate. 00:13:16.259 --> 00:13:26.799 Yet, the Lord has shown her mercy and chosen her, this little nobody, and done big things in her life. 00:13:28.620 --> 00:13:29.819 And Mary realises this. 00:13:29.879 --> 00:13:31.179 She sees it in her own life. 00:13:31.539 --> 00:13:35.840 And she says, look how God treats nobodies like me. 00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:39.440 And her soul magnifies the Lord. 00:13:39.519 --> 00:13:43.879 She sees how big and great and merciful the Lord is. 00:13:43.879 --> 00:13:54.679 God doesn't need the big or the mighty or the powerful or the influential people of this world to bring salvation. 00:13:54.799 --> 00:13:55.639 He doesn't need them. 00:13:57.000 --> 00:13:58.860 No, God is bigger than that. 00:13:59.939 --> 00:14:02.519 God is bigger than the ways of this world. 00:14:02.519 --> 00:14:07.600 God is bringing salvation all in his power. 00:14:08.259 --> 00:14:14.759 And he's bringing it to the small, the weak, the ruined, people who have nothing to bring to the table. 00:14:15.159 --> 00:14:15.960 People like Mary. 00:14:16.120 --> 00:14:17.779 People like me and you. 00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:21.759 God is bringing salvation to sinners. 00:14:23.199 --> 00:14:25.100 And God is transforming sinners. 00:14:25.100 --> 00:14:31.439 He's taking our small, insignificant lives and making them a part of his big plan for history. 00:14:32.519 --> 00:14:36.720 God makes himself big by choosing the small. 00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:43.340 So salvation, it's not about what you can bring to the table. 00:14:44.740 --> 00:14:49.179 God doesn't need you to be impressive for him to choose you. 00:14:50.100 --> 00:14:56.939 It doesn't matter if your life is a mess or if you don't have it all sorted, because none of us do. 00:14:56.940 --> 00:15:02.680 It doesn't matter if you feel or think you're small in the eyes of the world. 00:15:03.480 --> 00:15:09.600 No, God is choosing the small, the unimpressive, the messy, the sinful. 00:15:10.880 --> 00:15:14.080 God makes himself big by choosing the small. 00:15:14.080 --> 00:15:18.660 And did you see, this isn't just for Mary. 00:15:19.520 --> 00:15:23.020 Mary magnifies the Lord because she sees this as going global. 00:15:23.660 --> 00:15:24.520 Look at verse 52. 00:15:25.879 --> 00:15:28.240 God has exalted those of humble estate. 00:15:29.240 --> 00:15:29.920 Verse 53. 00:15:30.020 --> 00:15:32.160 He's filled the hungry with good things. 00:15:32.920 --> 00:15:35.259 He's raised the nothing into something. 00:15:35.259 --> 00:15:39.019 But also, he's done the opposite. 00:15:39.179 --> 00:15:41.200 He's brought the mighty down low. 00:15:41.559 --> 00:15:42.740 Do you see that in verse 51? 00:15:44.059 --> 00:15:47.740 He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 00:15:48.819 --> 00:15:52.179 He's brought down the mighty from their thrones, verse 52. 00:15:53.080 --> 00:15:53.819 Verse 53. 00:15:53.980 --> 00:15:55.879 The rich he sent away empty. 00:15:55.879 --> 00:15:59.559 Now, what does all this mean? 00:16:00.360 --> 00:16:03.799 Does this mean you can't have a big paycheck if you want to be saved? 00:16:04.679 --> 00:16:05.139 No. 00:16:06.320 --> 00:16:10.700 God is talking about a spiritual reversal of the world. 00:16:12.100 --> 00:16:14.799 Those of humble estate are people just like Mary. 00:16:15.740 --> 00:16:18.740 People who know that they are nothing before God. 00:16:19.659 --> 00:16:21.000 Who know that they're small. 00:16:21.159 --> 00:16:22.480 Who are ruined people. 00:16:22.480 --> 00:16:26.920 Who come to God saying, Lord, I am a spiritual disaster. 00:16:28.279 --> 00:16:30.240 That's why they're called the hungry here as well. 00:16:30.379 --> 00:16:33.420 That they know that they're not spiritually satisfied. 00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:35.159 They're hungry for God. 00:16:36.560 --> 00:16:38.399 And so the proud are the opposite. 00:16:39.720 --> 00:16:42.539 The proud are those who think that they don't need God. 00:16:43.720 --> 00:16:45.700 He's small in their souls. 00:16:45.960 --> 00:16:47.279 And they think they're big. 00:16:48.720 --> 00:16:51.539 They think they're mighty and spiritually rich. 00:16:51.539 --> 00:16:53.559 And they're in control of their lives. 00:16:54.480 --> 00:16:57.299 They say, I owe nothing to God. 00:16:58.279 --> 00:17:00.500 I need nothing from him. 00:17:00.980 --> 00:17:03.419 My life is fine just the way it is. 00:17:04.659 --> 00:17:08.200 Their song is, my soul magnifies myself. 00:17:08.200 --> 00:17:11.860 There are two types of people. 00:17:12.779 --> 00:17:14.900 Those who know they need God. 00:17:15.539 --> 00:17:17.160 And those who think they don't. 00:17:18.559 --> 00:17:22.620 And Christ has come to raise up those who know that they need him. 00:17:22.619 --> 00:17:27.939 A podcast clip popped up on my YouTube the other day. 00:17:28.419 --> 00:17:32.459 And it was a conversation between two, both of them, really successful YouTubers. 00:17:33.739 --> 00:17:35.639 And one of them was a Christian. 00:17:36.139 --> 00:17:39.059 But the interviewer, this YouTuber, he wasn't a Christian. 00:17:39.899 --> 00:17:46.179 And the Christian was saying, in this interview, he was saying, all my success is because of God. 00:17:46.180 --> 00:17:49.100 I'm nothing without God. 00:17:49.240 --> 00:17:51.180 He gives me everything I have. 00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:55.140 And the interviewer, he was hearing this. 00:17:55.480 --> 00:17:57.740 And he just couldn't get his head around that. 00:17:58.759 --> 00:18:00.539 He kept replying to the Christian. 00:18:00.640 --> 00:18:03.019 He was saying, no, but it was you. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:05.379 You put the hard work in. 00:18:05.559 --> 00:18:06.319 You did this. 00:18:06.680 --> 00:18:08.240 This is made by you. 00:18:10.700 --> 00:18:13.039 There were two souls in that podcast. 00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:16.440 One thought he was mighty on a throne. 00:18:17.779 --> 00:18:19.400 And one knew that he was poor. 00:18:21.579 --> 00:18:26.519 And Jesus has come to say to those who think that they're so great, who laugh at the idea of needing a savior. 00:18:26.660 --> 00:18:31.099 He says, you will be brought down from your throne and put in the dust. 00:18:31.099 --> 00:18:34.319 You aren't so big. 00:18:35.099 --> 00:18:39.339 What the world calls mighty and rich and full, I will show them to be nothing. 00:18:39.639 --> 00:18:41.959 You will not be part of my big plan. 00:18:43.819 --> 00:18:50.279 But to those who know that they are nothing before God, those people, God will exalt. 00:18:51.619 --> 00:18:55.000 God will make them a part of his big plan for salvation. 00:18:55.419 --> 00:18:58.240 God makes himself big by choosing the small. 00:18:58.240 --> 00:19:01.500 And how is God doing this? 00:19:02.640 --> 00:19:03.740 Well, did you notice? 00:19:03.940 --> 00:19:05.480 He's already done it. 00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:08.519 Did you see how all this is worded? 00:19:09.059 --> 00:19:11.120 He has brought down the mighty. 00:19:11.859 --> 00:19:13.819 He has filled the hungry. 00:19:15.500 --> 00:19:21.940 Mary looks down at her womb and knows God has already shown himself to be big. 00:19:21.940 --> 00:19:25.980 And she sees it in this little baby boy. 00:19:27.580 --> 00:19:29.180 And this is my second point today. 00:19:29.299 --> 00:19:32.279 God makes himself big by becoming small. 00:19:32.960 --> 00:19:35.340 God makes himself big by becoming small. 00:19:36.320 --> 00:19:39.400 So how is the Lord raising up the small and the humble? 00:19:40.500 --> 00:19:42.519 By becoming one of them. 00:19:42.519 --> 00:19:51.680 We here, all of us, we are lowly, small, nobodies before a big God. 00:19:53.279 --> 00:19:59.119 Our souls are full of grief and sadness and pain. 00:20:00.420 --> 00:20:05.319 Our lives are eclipsed by fear and loneliness. 00:20:05.319 --> 00:20:15.139 And our great God has come to earth to live a life just like that. 00:20:16.139 --> 00:20:21.839 To know and experience the sadness of your life. 00:20:23.359 --> 00:20:25.000 Look at the Lord here. 00:20:25.879 --> 00:20:27.720 Where is the Lord here? 00:20:27.720 --> 00:20:35.900 He is a tiny, vulnerable, helpless speck in the womb of a teenager. 00:20:37.500 --> 00:20:43.100 Look how lowly and weak the Lord God has made himself. 00:20:45.259 --> 00:20:48.579 Just think, who are some of the most vulnerable people in our world? 00:20:50.220 --> 00:20:54.440 Well, it would definitely include a pregnant teenager and her unborn baby. 00:20:54.440 --> 00:20:59.360 And God came in that form. 00:21:00.660 --> 00:21:06.860 God didn't just appear in the clouds to bring salvation and he just stayed floating above us. 00:21:07.900 --> 00:21:15.720 No, God came as this delicate, precious baby and he became one of us. 00:21:16.740 --> 00:21:19.420 He became body and blood. 00:21:19.860 --> 00:21:22.120 That's what we celebrate here at the Lord's table. 00:21:22.119 --> 00:21:29.759 God has shown mercy on the lowly by becoming one of the lowly. 00:21:31.500 --> 00:21:38.879 And as Jesus grew, he lived his life with all the pains and the troubles that we feel. 00:21:40.079 --> 00:21:41.559 He has a soul. 00:21:42.099 --> 00:21:49.979 Right now, he has a soul that has known sadness and grief and lowliness. 00:21:49.980 --> 00:21:53.380 And rejection and homelessness. 00:21:54.740 --> 00:21:59.480 All the things that are so easily magnified in our souls at Christmas. 00:22:01.900 --> 00:22:08.180 Whatever is taking up your soul this Christmas, whatever is eclipsing God in your life right now, 00:22:09.539 --> 00:22:11.440 Jesus knows how you feel. 00:22:11.440 --> 00:22:15.259 God knows your weakness. 00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:17.500 He's felt your suffering. 00:22:17.680 --> 00:22:19.860 He's wept like you have wept. 00:22:21.740 --> 00:22:26.820 And on the cross, Jesus took the depths of our sin on himself. 00:22:27.299 --> 00:22:31.480 He felt the depths and the agony of human suffering. 00:22:31.480 --> 00:22:35.160 All so he could bring us out of it. 00:22:36.299 --> 00:22:40.660 When Jesus was raised from the dead, he was raising the lowly with him. 00:22:41.819 --> 00:22:45.920 He was exalting the humble, giving them hope and a future. 00:22:46.339 --> 00:22:53.019 That this is the big God taking the small and making them a part of his big plan for salvation. 00:22:53.019 --> 00:22:58.759 God makes himself big by becoming small. 00:23:00.920 --> 00:23:03.480 God is not a far off speck in the sky. 00:23:04.819 --> 00:23:07.819 He has come down to us and known us. 00:23:08.859 --> 00:23:13.759 He's come to know your lowliness and to transform the suffering in your life. 00:23:14.059 --> 00:23:16.160 To make God big in your life. 00:23:17.299 --> 00:23:19.759 And make your pain smaller. 00:23:19.759 --> 00:23:25.720 Christ has declared whatever is eclipsing God in your life. 00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:28.920 Whatever else your soul magnifies. 00:23:29.619 --> 00:23:33.240 It no longer needs to take over your life. 00:23:35.140 --> 00:23:38.319 If grief is magnified in your soul right now. 00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:41.539 Christ knows how you feel. 00:23:43.000 --> 00:23:45.460 He knows that pain and that weakness. 00:23:46.059 --> 00:23:48.720 And you can come to a big God with your sadness. 00:23:48.720 --> 00:23:51.079 Because he cares about it. 00:23:52.079 --> 00:23:54.120 And one day he's going to end it. 00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:56.380 He heals the broken hearted. 00:23:58.180 --> 00:24:03.759 If loneliness and abandonment is all that you see in your soul right now. 00:24:04.799 --> 00:24:05.519 Know this. 00:24:05.880 --> 00:24:07.500 God is not far off. 00:24:08.700 --> 00:24:11.140 He's not a distant speck up there. 00:24:11.380 --> 00:24:14.059 He has come to earth and the Lord Jesus to say. 00:24:14.380 --> 00:24:15.779 I am with you. 00:24:15.779 --> 00:24:18.059 I am one of you. 00:24:18.339 --> 00:24:19.700 And I know you. 00:24:21.299 --> 00:24:25.000 You may think that you're a forgotten nobody in this world. 00:24:25.740 --> 00:24:27.579 But when you belong to Christ. 00:24:27.720 --> 00:24:29.079 God makes you something. 00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:34.019 You are a loved part of God's big plan for salvation. 00:24:34.019 --> 00:24:39.319 And if there is fear in your life right now. 00:24:40.319 --> 00:24:42.039 Fear of what the future holds. 00:24:42.440 --> 00:24:46.240 And it's like you just feel weak and you can't handle it. 00:24:47.519 --> 00:24:49.379 Christ has known your weakness. 00:24:49.380 --> 00:24:54.540 And he shows you that God is bigger than the troubles of your life. 00:24:54.600 --> 00:24:56.060 He's over your life. 00:24:58.380 --> 00:25:02.640 And when we see the mercy and power of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:25:02.720 --> 00:25:06.240 When we see that God has come in the form of a baby in a womb. 00:25:06.380 --> 00:25:08.880 To mercifully know us and help us. 00:25:09.000 --> 00:25:10.780 When we grasp Christmas. 00:25:10.779 --> 00:25:14.339 That's when we realise God is big. 00:25:15.519 --> 00:25:18.500 God makes himself big by becoming small. 00:25:20.220 --> 00:25:21.399 So this Christmas. 00:25:21.559 --> 00:25:22.879 Look at the Lord Jesus. 00:25:24.139 --> 00:25:25.319 Look at this baby. 00:25:25.619 --> 00:25:27.460 Look at the mercy of God. 00:25:28.759 --> 00:25:32.399 And let our souls magnify the Lord. 00:25:33.599 --> 00:25:34.500 Let me pray. 00:25:34.500 --> 00:25:34.500