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You. Our Bible reading this morning is from Luke's gospel, chapter one, reading from verses 46 to 55, and it's on page 1031 of your church Bible. So it's going to be Luke one, verses 46 to 55, subtitled the Magnificat. And Mary said, my soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my saviour. For he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.

For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed. For he who is mighty has done great things for me. And holy is his name, and his mercies is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away. He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his offspring forever. This is the word of the Lord.

Roy, thank you so much. Well, please do keep your bibles open in Luke, chapter one. Look at that together this morning. You've probably heard that song, haven't you? Mary, did you know?

Mary, did you know? If you look it up on YouTube, there's this four part harmony group that likes singing in know kind of dark caves, and they kind of sing this beautiful rendition of Mary, did you know, you know the one. Mary, did you know that one day your baby. And then lots of different things. Mary, did you know that one day your baby would walk on water?

Mary, did you know that one day he'd give sight to the blind, he'd calm a storm? Mary, did you know that one day your baby would save our sons and daughters would deliver you? Did you know that he's the lord of creation and the ruler of nations? And I think the song is supposed to be rhetorical. It's making the point.

Of course, Mary couldn't have known all these things. Of course, Mary couldn't have known that her baby would walk on water and give sight to the blind.

And yet, Mary's own song in Luke chapter one reveals that she knows an awful lot. This is a young woman with massively mature faith in God. And we're going to look at some of the things that Mary did know this morning. This opening section of Luke's gospel is a little bit like a musical because everyone keeps bursting into song and the action is punctuated by these songs. So we have here Mary's song next week at 1115, we're going to look at Zechariah's song.

And then, of course, in chapter two, it's the angels who burst into song. Now, I think I've said this before, I'm not massively keen on musicals, but what songs do, what these kind of musical songs do is they get you deeper into what the person is thinking and feeling. It gets you to the heart of what they really believe. I want us to see this morning two big things that Mary knows. Two big things that Mary believes.

And here's the first thing she knows. Mary knows the God who keeps his promises. Mary knows the God who keeps his promises. Mary is perhaps just a teenager living in relative poverty in a fairly obscure place, and yet she already knows so many things. She knows that angels are real.

She knows that God knows her name and wants to bless her, and that by his power, she will give birth to the son of God. Mary already knows that the Lord of the universe, the king of the angels, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, knows her, loves her, has spoken to her and will show his power through her. That's quite a lot she already knows, isn't it? And the song of Mary's song here opens with something of Mary's own testimony, singing out her own trust.

Verse 47. My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God, my saviour. She sings of the God who saves, who rescues, who delivers.

Perhaps you've heard that God is a saviour, but Mary calls him my saviour. There's a difference, isn't there? We might hear names used for God, like Lord, master, friend, saviour. But is he your saviour? Is he my saviour?

See, to sing like Mary, we need to know the God of personal salvation, the God who is able to rescue me.

It's an important question to ask, isn't it? Do I know about God or do I know God for myself? We've just sung that great song with that line, prepare him room. It's very personal, isn't it? Asking that God might make his home in me, that he might be my saviour.

Friends, this Christmas, if Jesus being saviour is just something you've heard about as a concept, but never really believe for yourself, well, friends, do change that. This Christmas, find out more about the Lord Jesus, the one who saves, the one born to die for us, that we might have life. You see, God wants to know us personally and Mary knows it. Verse 48. She sings, for he has looked upon my humble estate of his servant.

He has looked upon. He's remembered me. He's seen me. He knows me. The God of the universe has seen me.

He's remembered little me. And Mary knows that God has been keeping his promise to her personally. But she then sees beyond herself to how God has been faithful to his purposes for all his people. Verse 50, she says, and his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. When the Bible speaks of mercy going down through the generations, it's talking about God's covenant love, the special promise that God has made with his people, his faithful, binding, unshakable promise to show love to his people.

As special and unique as Mary is in God's loving purposes, she knows, too, that God has been faithful to those before her and will be faithful to those after her. His mercy is bigger than me. His promises are for all generations, generation to generation, God is showing his mercy. And she remembers a particular instant there in verse 51. He has shown strength with his arm.

He has scattered the proud in his thoughts of their hearts. This imagery of God having a mighty arm comes from the book of Exodus. It's a picture of God rescuing his people out of slavery. Here in the song, she recalls this imagery. The God with a mighty arm is the God who can act, who can intervene, who can step down and reach out to save.

Perhaps Mary has the words of psalm 136 in her mind, which pick up this imagery. His love endures forever, repeats the psalm generational mercy. It keeps going from the God who stretches out his arm to rescue his people from Egypt and scatter the pride of Pharaoh's army. This is the God of Exodus, who saved his people in the past and will surely save them again. Verse 54.

She says he has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy. See, not just the Exodus, but throughout Israel's history. God has been their helper because he has remembered his mercy. He's remembered his promise to save. It says he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his offspring, like Abraham, leaving his land to follow God in a new country like Jacob, who through all his mistakes was kept by God.

God was helping them, speaking to them, always with them. You see, Mary knew that the Lord was not only being good to her, but through her was keeping age old promises for good and mercy and salvation for all of God's people. At this point, Mary is full of praise. She says, my soul magnifies the Lord, makes him bigger.

But let's not forget her situation.

She's worried. She's confused, unsure how this will play out. She trusts the Lord, yes, but she doesn't know how everything will work out.

Her reputation is on the line. She's taking a huge risk.

But in spite of all this, she's filled with the joy of serving the Lord. She's overwhelmed and overjoyed at the task with which the Lord has entrusted her with friends. What choice will we make?

Will we recoil from serving and following the Lord when it feels costly, when it feels uncertain, when it feels like our reputation might be on the line?

Or, like Mary? Will we consider the joy of serving the Lord as a greater prize, a more valuable treasure? That's the choice that Mary is faced with. And not only does she embrace it, but she rejoices in it. She celebrates in it.

She sings it out of all God's goodness, all that he's done in the past, all that she hopefully expects God will do through her in the future. You see, Mary sings because she knows the God who keeps his promises.

Here's the second big thing she knows. Mary knows the God who turns the world upside down.

Now, the other day I went to my fridge and I went to get out some condiments. In our house, we quite like condiments. Things to dip in, we have to have separate ones. My wife is a double dipper, so we have to have separate. Okay, but here are the stable condiments.

Okay, we've got mayonnaise and we've got ketchup. But here's the problem. In our house, I've got Heinz mayonnaise and Hellman's ketchup. Now, some of you might think, what's that? Everyone knows.

Or at least everyone should know. Mayonnaise is supposed to be Hellman's and ketchup is supposed to be Heinz. Exactly. Now, I'll be honest. I just buy whatever's on offer.

But this is a little illustration of the world being turned upside down. Things not in their right places. Everyone knows it should be the other way around. Hellman's should be mayonnaise. Heinz should be ketchup.

But in our house, maybe in your house, the world is turned upside down. You see, here's what Mary knows. Mary knows that her God defies conventional wisdom.

Her God doesn't have to have the right label on the right bottle. In fact, he might turn it round. He's not bound by traditions. Rather, he's the God who turns the world upside down. Look at what she sings about the way God works.

Verse 52. She sings, he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate rulers brought down, humble, lifted up, places swapped. Not what we expect. Mighty ones, leaders, vips, people with power, those with thrones have been brought down. The high become low, while the lowly, the poor, the marginalised, the weak, those of humble estate are exalted.

The low become high. Or look at verse 53. She sings he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. The hungry, the homeless, the needy, the unemployed, the widow, the orphan, they will receive abundantly from God. He fills them up.

Their fortunes reversed, their prospects brightened, their lives transformed. Whereas the rich, the wealthy, successful, those who have much, those who have received their fill are sent away empty. Their places in society are switched, roles are reversed. The whole world is turned upside down.

But this makes no sense.

This isn't how the world works.

The rich and powerful rule, while the poor and lowly are downtrodden. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. That is how the world works.

But what if this is how God will work to change the world, to be the saviour of the world, to turn the world upside down? What if he's going to change that? You see, the Christmas story into which Mary was about to enter and into which we journey with her is about just that. You see, Jesus, the little baby who would be born, the eternal son. He sat on the throne at his father's right hand, and he got down, he stooped to save.

He came down low to look for the lost. And he did this, that he might raise us up with him at his father's side.

Jesus, who has all the fullness of God, who was rich beyond measure, he became empty. He became poor. He left his home, he left comfort, he left security to endure the cross, to empty himself, to become like a slave. He gave up everything that you might receive, an inheritance, that you might be filled with all of God's riches. Two Corinthians chapter eight says, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake, became poor, so that you, by his poverty, might become rich.

Jesus, the Lord of heaven, comes down. His majesty is displayed in meekness, his greatness displayed as servants.

His glory is his sacrifice.

Jesus turns the whole world upside down.

So, friends, how will we consider those things of the world in their rightful place? How will we consider money, status and power, things which the world prizes, which society exalts? Things? If I'm honest, I'm often drawn towards.

And yet, the Christmas story shows a different way. The Christmas story shows a saviour who turns that world on its head.

Let me close with some words from Philippians. Chapter two friends, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing. Taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that the name of Jesus every nation should bow in heaven and on earth, and under the earth and every tongue. Confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Friends, do you know what Mary knew a lot.