Luke 1:39-56 Sermon for Dec. 28, 2025

“In those days Mary set out and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judah where she entered Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped inside her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then she exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and your child will be blessed! How could this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For you see, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped for joy inside me. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill what he has spoken to her!’ So, tucked right in there in our account tonight is this phrase, “and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.” What does that mean? I ask that because it’s important that we grasp what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to walk with the Holy Spirit. It’s important to understand that being in church is the same as being in Christ. As time permits down the road when we talk more extensively on the Holy Spirt, I’ll say this: to be filled with the Holy Spirit is to live under His continued influence. You are being empowered, shaped, molded, and guided by His presence, rather than by the impulses of your flesh. And to walk in step with the Holy Spirit is to align your everyday desires, thoughts, and actions into His leadership so that your life reflects the character of Jesus. Check out what Paul says in Galatians 5: “I say, then, walk by the Spirit and you will certainly not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these two are opposed to each other, so that you don’t do what you want” (16, 17). And then Paul adds more to this by saying: “Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousy, outburst of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I am warning you about these things- as I warned you before- that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (19-21). Now, we must listen really carefully. If we claim to be in Jesus, we must walk in the Light. Doing so if the evidence of us having the Holy Spirit in us. I say this with fear and trembling because this is so important. I fear that many who are in church are not in Christ and the Bible warns us that if we are not in Christ, walking in step with the Holy Spirit, we are walking ourselves into danger. I think it’s worth asking us some personal questions when it comes to this. Look at what the Bible says about being filled with the Holy Spirit. I just read you a list. Here are more straight from Scripture. Titus 3:3-6 says, “For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved by various passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, detesting one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us- not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy- through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” In other words, we once WERE and now ARE. Check out 1 Peter 4:1-5, which says, “Therefore, since Christ suffered in the flesh, are yourselves also with the same understanding- because the one who suffers in the flesh is f inished with sin- in order to live the remaining time in the flesh no longer for human desires, but for God’s will. For there has already been enough time spent in doing what the Gentiles choose to do: carrying on in unrestrained behavior, evil desires, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and lawless idolatry. They are surprised that you don’t join them in the same flood of wild living- and they slander you. They will give an account to the one who stands ready to judge the living and the dead.” And finally, look at what Paul says in Ephesians 4:17-24 which says, “Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thoughts. They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts. They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more. But that is not how you came to know Christ, assuming you heard about him and were taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, to take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires, to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth.” So, I hope your picking up what I’m putting down here. As we enter into a new year, it’s an opportune time to reflect on our walk with Jesus. Are you filled with the Holy Spirit? Is there evidence of it in your life? When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we are yielding to the Spirit’s influence in our lives. We are allowing the Holy Spirit to shape and guide our thoughts, actions, and words. We are growing in spiritual maturity and producing fruit, the one we see in Galatians. It isn’t about emotional highs; it’s about transformation. We are seeing evidence of joy in our lives when life is difficult. We are see the power in our lives, meaning the Holy Spirit is prompting obedience to the will of the Lord when you know it’s so difficult to do so when you’re in the f lesh. You are aligning your life to the Will of God by making choices which are godly. You are receiving the power to resist temptations. You are living in truth. You are walking in holiness. I know this all sounds intense, because it is. However, the Holy Spirit helps you. The standard is high but the Holy Spirit helps you. I would be remiss if I didn’t share this with you. Why? Because being in church without the Holy Spirit leads to eternal destruction. It’s the highway to Hell. When you become a believer, truly, you are given the Holy Spirit. Let me give a clear picture for you because being filled with the Holy Spirit is not a gas tank analogy when He comes and goes or you lose Him and have to regain Him. It was taught to me this way: It’s the difference between indwelling and filling. Indwelling is permanent. John 14:16 says “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever.” Forever. Ephesians 1:13-14 says, “In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed. The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.” That’s the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Now, you have the filling. Filling isn’t about possession. You already have possession of the Holy Spirit. It’s about yielding to the Holy Spirit that is in you. You don’t lose the Spirit, but you can lose sensitivity and submission to the Holy Spirit. You don’t lose His presence, but you can quench His influence. It’s why 1 Thessalonians 5:19 says, “Don’t stifle the Spirit.” My question for you tonight is this: are you a man or woman of God who is filled with the Holy Spirit and is yielding to the influence of the Holy Spirit? Does your life give evidence of it? If not, perhaps, this is a time to enter into 2026 with some strong spiritual resolves. Let’s take a look at our last section for tonight, known as Mary’s praise! It is also known, traditionally, as The Magnificat, which comes from the Latin word Magnificat, meaning “magnifies.” Why is this? Because the word magnify means to make something appear greater. It means to praise or exalt someone. It means to increase the significance of someone or something. What Mary is going to do here is praise the God. She is going to, from the depths of her soul, exalt God. Let’s check it out. Again, one part at a time. And Mary said: ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior (46-47)… Here, Mary begins with internal worship. She recognizes that God is her Savior. You have ot understand that this is not about emotions here. This is a Spirit-prompted praise. That’s so important for us to recognize here in America where there is so much manipulation in our modern worship across many of our conferences, churches, and camps. This is a praise that comes from no background music or any of that. It’s a praise that comes suddenly because the Truth lives in her. It’s Holy Spirit prompted and driven. because he has looked with favor on the humble condition of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed, because the Mighty One has done great things for me, and his name is holy. (48-49) Mary confesses that she is a nobody. Meaning, she comes from humble origins and she is blown away that her Savior would use her for mighty things. She is praising God’s holiness and mercy on her. She is also recognizing that the generations ahead of her will call her blessed…why? Because of God’s word, not her merit. This is all God. And she wants everyone to know that. She is confessing right here, as we should in our own lives, that she wants people to look at God; not her. Do we do that? Are we pointing people to Jesus when people look at us? Or are we stealing the glory and credit? His mercy is from generation to generation on those who fear him. (50) What this means is that you and I can experience God’s mercy if we revere Him. Now, here is a challenge to us tonight, especially if you have kids. Are you passing down the message and story of Jesus to them? Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to break generational curses? Are we making it a priority to give our own brokenness to the Lord so that we don’t extend it to our kids? And if you don’t have kids, are you invested in the young ones so that they, too, can know the mercy of our Lord? He has done a mighty deed with his arm; he has scattered the proud because of the thoughts of their hearts; he has toppled the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. He has satisfied the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. (51-53) This right here is prophetic. There are a few things we want to extract from here: it’s that God opposes arrogance and the proud. So, He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. God also flips the world’s value system. Meaning, He lifts the lowly and humbles the high. It says, “He has toppled the might from their thrones.” No kingdom or country this world has or ever will see will last. And if anyone should think of him or herself as better than God in any way, shape, or form, you are in dangerous territory. Just think of what He did to King Herod. Think of what He did to Pharoah. God has been in the business of displaying His might and glory from the things we think are nothing. 1 Corinthians 1:27 says, “Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong.” It then tells us here that He has satisfied the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. The rich are those who trust in themselves. The hungry are those who trust in God. In the Beatitudes, it says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Do we hunger after the righteousness of God? DO we trust that our ultimate fulfillment and satisfaction comes from Him alone? Or are we still in self-reliance, which is what God opposes? He has helped his servant Israel, remembering his mercy to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he spoke to our ancestors.’ And finally, we have this section that tells us that Mary sees what is happening to her as not random. She sees what is happening to her because of God’s promise and covenant to her that extends for generations before her. Ok, so what does that have to do with you today? Good question. First, it reminds us that when God promises something, He will ALWAYS follow through. And second, if you are in Christ, you are in the same family as Mary. Galatians 3:9 says, “Consequently, those who have faith are blessed with Abraham, who have faith.” In other words, if righteousness is credited to you via through the person and work of Jesus, YOU are grafted into the covenant. And Mary stayed with her about three months; then she returned to her home.” (56) As I invite Hannah back up and we conclude our time together, I leave you with this: We have just explored one of the most beautiful and powerful passages in Luke and I want to encourage you to really meditate on all this when you get home. Don’t let this be just another sermon. There’s a lot of Bible passages we went through. Go through them again and really consider what all this might mean for you. Let’s stand and worship King Jesus.