Blessed Because You Believed
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And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda; And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth. And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.
Prelude: God had done something that would only strengthen Mary’s faith. God blessed Elisabeth and Zechariah with a child. Elisabeth and Zechariah could not have children because Elisabeth was barren and verse 7 says they were both very old (probably beyond 60 years old). But notice here the scripture says in verse 6 “they were righteous in God’s eyes and careful to obey all of the Lord’s commandments and regulations”. They did not get mad at God and backslide because they didn’t get what they wanted. They did not stop serving God because God hadn’t blessed them with a child. They continued to serve the LORD, they continued to obey his commandments, they continued to be blamesless before God.....I believe they continued to praise the LORD. Zechariah was a priest who served in the temple and his wife Elizabeth was a daughter from the line of Aaron the high-priest.
One day while Zechariah was in the Temple serving the LORD by burning incense and doing his priestly duties, a great crowd was outside praying, and while Zechariah was in the sanctuary the Bible says that an angel of the LORD appeared to him. If you remain faithful to God, if you serve the LORD......the LORD will show up! If you live for God and you seek to honor Him and obey His commandments help will come.......every person who is striving to live right, every person that has made up their mind to serve the LORD touch yourself and say “HELP IS ON THE WAY!”
Zechariah was shaken and overwhelmed with fear but the angel said “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah, God has heard your prayer”! Yes it had been a long time coming, but Zechariah....knew that God was still able. Zechariah and Elizabeth was of old age now but they knew that God was able! The odds can be stacked against you but God is able. Things might not be going your way but God is able. The doctor told you one thing but God is able. Children still acting crazy but God is still able.....I need for you to look at the hard circumstance and shout “God Is Able”......encourage your neighbor and say neighbor......Hey neighbor.....God is able!
The angel tells Zechariah that Elizabeth was going to bare him a son (verse 13) and “you will name him John”. “You’re going to have great gladness and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the eyes of the LORD, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. And many of the children of Israel shall be turn to the LORd their God.” God was going to go beyond this babe being a blessing to Zechariah and Elizabeth....this baby would be a blessing to many! This is how God does, he dosen’t just bless you for your sake....He blesses you to be a blessing. He blesses you for you to let people know how awesome He is. He blesses you so that people will know that God is still able!
It had been 400 years....since the last prophet prophesied in Israel. 400 years of silence, 400 years without a word from the LORD. Isaiah prophesied that after this silence there would come one who would prepare the way of the LORD/Messiah. Isaiah 40:1-5,9. Zechariah himself didn’t believe what the angel told him and the angel tells him that because he didn’t believe.....he would not be able to talk until the day that these things are performed and then from that point Zechariah could not speak. It wasn’t until after John was born and was eight days old, when they went to name the baby, the family wanted to name the baby after Zechariah but the mother said “No his name is John” and when they looked at Zechariah, he wrote on a tablet “his name is John” and instantly his mouth was loosed and the first thing that came out of his mouth was praise to God! This is why when God tells us something....we have to have faith and believe it! When Zechariah heard the news from the angel he should have believed and then praise the LORD. This is what we have to do.....don’t try to figure out how God is going to bless you, don’t try to figure out who God is going to do....just have faith and praise HIM! If you don’t believe God you won’t praise the LORD....you’ll ask questions.....but when you believe it ought to bring a praise out of you. Don’t wait until God puts you in something and then bring you out for you to believe Him and then praise Him…you ought to praise Him right now!
I need to regress.....because I need to deal with the text now. Before John was born about 6 months into Elizabeth’s pregnancy (Isaiah had already prophesied that John would prepare the way for the Messiah) the scriptures tells us that an angel visits Mary a virgin that had never knew a man. A woman who was engaged to a man by the name of Joseph. The angels says in verse 28 “Hail, thou art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed are thou among women”. The bible says “she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be”.....what’s going on here.....what is this angel talking about. Then the angel replied “Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God and behold, thou shalt conceive in the womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus”. It is apparent that Mary is trying to figure all of this out....she is probably thinking....well the angel is telling me that after me and Joseph get married.....but no no no.....the angel wasn’t talking about after they got married.....he was talking about before they got married. The angel wasn’t talking about fornication neither.....because he says in verse 35 “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God”.
So in other words, what the angel was alluding to was that old prophecy that Isaiah prophesied to Ahaz about Isaiah 7:14
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
The angel told Mary to name your son Jesus/Yahusha/Yeshua. Now understand that at this time Jesus was a common name (I know some of yall don’t like that fact but it is a true fact). But there was a reason why the angel told Mary to name her child this name because when you break down this name in the original Hebrewic Yah means God and husha means salvation......together it means God is my Salvation. Everyone else that was named this couldn’t live up to that name....but this baby that was getting ready to be born would live up to that name. He (Jesus) shall be great, and be called the Son of the Highest.
The angel tells Mary, your cousin Elizabeth has conceived a son in her old age. See this was going to be the thing that strengthened Mary’s faith. Notice the difference between her reaction and Zechariah’s reaction. Zechariah wavered in faith, Mary believes the report of the angel because she says in verse 38 “be it unto me according to thy word”.
(Verse 39) So Mary, a few days later hurried to the hill country of Judea to the town where Zechariah lived.....if she hadn’t believed she would have just scoffed at the notion of Elizabeth being pregnant. So when Mary gets there and walks through the front door she opened her mouth to greet Elizabeth and when she opened her mouth and said hello.......Elizabeth’s child leaped within her and Elizabeth was filled with the HOLY GHOST! When the Holy Ghost moves.....you’re going to move! Why did this happened, because no man can say that Jesus is LORD save by the HOLY GHOST! Mary didn’t even know that she was with child because it happened that quick and it happened just like the angel said it was going to happen. When the Holy Ghost moves it will cause you to praise the LORD! Elizabeth began to open her mouth and prophesy and proclaim “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed, why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me?” When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy!
“And blessed is sh that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the LORD!”
The NLT reads like this “You are blessed because you believed that the LORD would do what he said”.
Wanted to stop by this morning to encourage you and to let you know that when you believe the report of the LORD you’ll be blessed! Does not matter how dark the day or the hour may be.....God can bless you in the darkness. Many of us have been frustrated by this year, some of us have even said it doesn’t feel like Christmas but come to let you know that the light is still shining in the darkness and if that if you would just believe that God is able to bring you through, if God is able to provide for you, if God is able to do anything but fail.....you can be “blessed because you believed that the LORD would do what he said”. God made so many promises for us.....He promised to deliver us, He promised to protect us, He promised to keep us, He promised to fight for us, He promised to heal us, He promised to lift us up. If you would just believe the word of the LORD this morning I declare unto you that before you leave this service you’ll leave out “blessed because you believed that the LORD would do what he said”.
Mary in response to Elizabeth’s prophecy, proclamation, and praise began to open her mouth and praise the LORD. The Holy Ghost was moving in the room and they started having a praise party! This is called “Mary’s Magnificent” Mary said
“Oh, how my soul praises the LORD”.....that was a praise from her gut....that was a praise from her innermost being......you haven’t really praised the LORD until you let if flow from your gut, from your innermost self. She said “How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior”......then she starts going doing a list of the reasons why she praised God:
He took notice of this lowly servant girl (God brought her from a low praise and exalted her).
Because God is mighty and holy and has done great things for her.
Because He shows mercy to those who fear him.
His might arm has done great things and has scattered the proud and haughty ones (brought down her enemies, brought down the things that need to be brought down).
God has exalted the humble and filled the hungry with good things.
God has sent the rich away with empty things.
He has helped God’s people and been merciful.
God has been faithful to his word (Abraham’s promise).