Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20101205.htm

CHRISTMAS INTERLUDE
Mary's Confessions In The Magnificat
Part I: Mary's Confession Regarding God's Salvation Of The Soul
(Luke 1:46-47)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    For forty years, your pastors have held: "The New Testament has . . . little to say about Mary," that it "does not indicate that worship or veneration in any form is to be given her." (Loraine Boettner, Roman Catholicism, 1978, p. 132-133). Thus, I have before given my December series of messages on some theme other than the role of Mary, not thinking that it would be necessary at the Christmas Season.

    However, the religious landscape is changing remarkably, and we must address questions on Mary's role this month as we can verify:

    (1) On November 22, 2010, I was relaxing at home as my wife was playing a Christmas CD for children she had purchased from an evangelical distributor. I was not paying it much attention when all of a sudden, the narrator claimed a statue of Mary came to life to help a little juggler boy, with an onlooking abbot exclaiming, "It's a miracle!"

    Concerned that this story was being sold through an evangelical distributor, I checked the CD packet for the publisher's name, thinking it would be a Roman Catholic group, only to find it was an evangelical!

    (2) Stunned, I did some research and found T. A. McMahon's report in his article, "Mary Who?" in the October 2000 issue of The Berean Call, p. 1. McMahon told how "Mary . . . is rapidly becoming the queen of ecumenism'", that "The Los Angeles Times reported (a) growing number of Americans from all Christian denominations are reaching out to the Virgin Mary as a comforting conduit of spirituality and a symbol of peace in troubled times.'"

    (3) McMahon added that "apparitions of Mary appear even in Islamic countries" and that "(a)n entire chapter (Maryam) in the Qur'an and numerous other verses therein, as well has hundreds of hadiths, pay homage to Mary, the mother of Jesus."

    So, this month, when Mary's Luke 1:46-55 Magnificat will be read or sung in many religious meetings, we do well to view it ourselves for insight on the Biblical truth of Mary and her role(s).

    One question we must answer is raised by the claim in the December 8, 1854 decree by Pope Pius IX of Mary's Immaculate Conception, that she was conceived without sin, and did not need to be saved. This claim leads to the belief that Mary as sinless can aid others to gain salvation by works, Ibid., Boettner, p. 158-159, 139. Thus, the question we ask for this sermon is: "What does the Magnificat teach on salvation, and of Mary's possible role in it?!"

    Need: "In view of the broadening adoration of Mary today, what does her Magnificat teach on salvation, and on her role in it?!"

  1. Luke 1:46-47 of the Magnificat in its wide Biblical context reveals that Mary was a sinner in need of God's gracious salvation:
    1. Luke 1:46-47 KJV cites Mary as saying, "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour."
    2. To learn how Mary saw God as her "Savior," we note the Magnificat is based on Hannah's song in 1 Samuel 2:1-10, Alfred Edersheim, The Life And Times Of Jesus The Messiah , 1972, vol. i, p. 153, ftn. 1.
    3. In 1 Samuel 2:1 KJV of that Old Testament passage, Hannah said "I rejoice in thy salvation," the salvation of "the Lord".
    4. Well, wherever the Old Testament calls God "Savior", He is viewed as the only Savior where no man can save himself, Isaiah 43:10-11; 45:21; Hosea 13:4; Zond. Pict. Ency. of the Bible, vol. Five, p. 291.
    5. This applies to the salvation of the soul from sin and hell, for the Old Testament taught all mortals were sinners in need of mercy, Ps. 143:2.
    6. This same Old Testament foretold that even she who would give birth to the Messiah would travail in labor as a sinner under Adam's curse:
      1. Micah 5:2 (Micah 5:1 in the Hebrew text) foretold Messiah would be born in Bethlehem as Israel's scribes affirmed in Matthew 2:3-6.
      2. Then, Micah 5:3 (2) mentions the woman who would give Messiah birth, noting she would experience labor in making that delivery:
        1. Micah 5:3 (2) translates as follows: "Therefore He will give them up until the time when she who is in labor (yoledah) has given birth (yaladah ), then the rest of his brothers will return to the sons (people) of Israel." (Kittel, Biblia Hebraica, p. 938).
        2. Some claim "she who is in labor" figuratively refers to Israel, but (a) the brevity of the expression suggests an idea so familiar to Hebrews it needed no explanation, the idea of she who would bear Messiah, L. C. Allen, The Books of Joel, Obadiah, Jonah and Micah (NICOT), 1976, p. 345. (b) Also, since Micah 5:2 (1) predicts Messiah's birth, the Micah 5:3 (2) expression of a woman in travail likely alludes to his mother's delivering Him!
      3. So, Messiah's Mother, Mary according to Luke 1:26-33, travailed in labor to give birth to Messiah Jesus, which travail meant Mary was under Adam's curse as a mortal sinner, Genesis 3:6-7, 16!
    7. Besides, the New Testament even records a sin committed by Mary:
      1. Mark 3:20-21 NIV explains Jesus' "family" (lit. "those with Him," a Greek idiom for kinsmen, Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 117) came to take custody of Him, thinking He was out of His mind for ministering so much that He was even skipping some of His meals.
      2. These kinsmen who arrived to take custody of Jesus in Mark 3:31 are identified there as His mother, Mary, and Jesus' half brothers (whose mother was Mary and whose father was Joseph).
      3. Thus, Mary herself then sinned in unbelief in Jesus, thinking He was out of His mind while He was obeying His Heavenly Father!
    8. Thus, by Mary's own allusion to Old Testament Hannah's song that spoke of God in His role as "Savior" taken in its wide Bible context, Mary in her Magnificat confessed she needed God as her ("my") Savior like every other sinner in need of God's gracious salvation!
  2. Mary then gave consent to Peter's Gospel that salvation from sin was by faith alone in Jesus alone (as follows):
    1. Mary met with Jesus' disciples after His ascension in Acts 1:9-14.
    2. On the day of Pentecost, she with this group of disciples was filled with the Holy Spirit, and Peter publicly explained the group's belief that salvation was for all who called upon the Lord, Acts 2:1-4, 14-21.
    3. From the Acts 15 First Church Council, we know more fully that the Gospel Peter held was justification for all by faith alone in Jesus only:
      1. In Acts 15:1-9, Peter testified God purified the Gentiles in Corneilus' house "by faith" back in Peter's Acts 10:34-48 ministry.
      2. Acts 10:34-48 shows these folk had been saved by Peter's message of faith in Jesus, not by faith in any other or by faith plus any work. Indeed, the Holy Spirit came upon them as they were hearing Peter speak and before they could even do any work! (Acts 10:43-48)
      3. In Acts 15:11 NIV, Peter held: "We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they (the Gentiles) are."
    4. Thus, through her involvement at Pentecost, Mary affirmed the view that salvation for all is by grace through faith alone in Jesus only.
Application: (1) As the Magnificat at Luke 1:46-47 in its wide Bible context affirms all mortals like Mary must trust alone in Jesus only to be saved, (2) may we trust alone in Christ only to be saved, John 3:16! (3) May we view Mary as a dear sister in Christ who was honored by God to bear Jesus, but, just that, and no more!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 An amazing testimony to the fact that Mary as a sinner needed God's salvation arises from the unusual source of an ex cathedra papal pronouncement from Pope Pius XII made on November 1, 1950. It is called "the Assumption of the Blessed Mother of God" according to Robert C. Broderick, ed., The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1986, p. 56.

This encyclopedia, declared "free from doctrinal or moral error" by a Nihil obstat and Imprimatur by Roman Catholic officials, claimed this 1950 papal pronouncement affirmed "(t)he doctrine of the taking up of the body and soul of the Mother of God (Mary) into heaven after her death . . ." (Ibid., emphases ours)

In clarification of Mary's death, Henry Bettenson's Documents of the Christian Church (2nd ed.), p. 396 cites from that original papal pronouncement, noting it implied Mary's death was a regular death as it occurred " . . . on the completion of the course of her earthly life . . ."

This pronouncement is astounding! 1 Corinthians 15:21 claims "by man came death," that "in Adam all die" because Adam sinned (1 Cor. 15:22; Rom. 5:12-14; Gen. 2:16-17; 3:1-19) so that if people die a regular death only if they are sinners, and since even this papal decree implies Mary died a regular death, she had to be a sinner!

The Roman Catholic Church would respond to our conclusion to suggest "Mary's body was miraculously preserved from corruption, and her resurrection and ascension are made parallel to Christ's resurrection and ascension." (Ibid., Boettner, p. 162-163). However, the sinless Jesus died a SPECIAL death, bearing man's sin in a substitutional death for sinners, 1 Peter 2:24; Romans 6:1-6. Only if Mary had also borne our sins, dying as our substitute under God's judgment like Jesus died could she as a sinless being even die, for if she were sinless, regular death could not touch her, but the papal assumption pronouncement implies she died a regular death!

Mary was thus a sinner because she died a regular death! That means the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception claiming she was untainted by sin is invalid, and all roles assigned to her in aiding in the salvation of others are equally invalid!

May we thus trust alone in Jesus alone for salvation, and view Mary as a dear fellow sister in Christ who was greatly blessed of God to bear His Son, the Messiah, but just that, and no more!