Intro:
John 8:41 - ...They said to him, "We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father--even God."
Why I Believe Jesus Was Born of a Virgin:
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It is the Straightforward teaching of scripture.
Genesis 3:15 - I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring...
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God is Able to do it.
Luke 1:37 - Nothing will be impossible with God.
- It is Essential for salvation.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:40-00:43
Open up your Bibles with me, please, to Matthew 1.
00:44-00:48
We are taking a little break from our series in Revelation.
00:49-01:10
And today and tomorrow night, we're doing just a little two-part series called "Don't Myth Christmas." You know, several years ago, my son Cade got kicked in the face by a horse and launched, how far? 15, 20 feet, full flip in the air, landed on his face.
01:11-01:11
Horrific.
01:12-01:17
Long story short, taken to Children's Hospital in the trauma unit overnight.
01:17-01:22
The next morning, he jumped out of bed and acted like nothing happened.
01:22-01:25
It was a miracle from God Himself.
01:25-01:48
There were other doctors and nurses, remember Aaron, they would stop by our room, and Cade's playing and dancing and singing, being his goofy self, and they're like, "Excuse me, is this the little boy that was kicked in the face by the horse?" "Yeah, that's him." "And when did that happen?" "Last night." And they were just like, "It is an absolute miracle." And I've got to tell you, it absolutely was.
01:49-01:52
But if I told you that story every week...
01:52-01:54
I mean, now, some of you knew that story, right?
01:54-01:58
And some of you I can see by your faces, you're like, "Holy cow, tell us more." Okay, you know, I'll tell you more later.
01:58-02:07
But if I told you that story every single week, I imagine after a while, you'd be like, "Oh, here comes that horse story again. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:07-02:13
Yeah, we kicked in the face and launched from 15 or 20 feet, and yeah, in the trauma unit, up the next morning.
02:13-02:15
Yeah, we've heard this story before.
02:16-02:18
And what time is it? Where are we going to go to lunch?
02:20-02:32
And stop picking on your sister." And I'll be honest with you, Christmas can be tough to preach because I feel that a lot of times that's how people approach the Christmas story.
02:32-02:59
That it's so overly familiar that I think some people are like, "Okay, we're going to get gussied up, put on our best red and black checkered shirt, and we're going to go to church, and we're going to hear this story about something about angels and wise men and shepherds and babies and heard it before, heard it before." You know, there's just not a lot of material to draw from in the Bible when it comes to the birth of Jesus.
03:00-03:08
Easter, there's a lot of stuff we can talk about with the death and resurrection of Jesus and all of the implications and everything it means.
03:09-03:13
But when it comes to Jesus' birth, there's just not a lot of material in the Bible about His birth.
03:13-03:16
It's like, "What do I want to preach on this year? Matthew or Luke." Right?
03:17-03:29
Well, like a lot of stories, like a lot of true stories, So over time, some myths sort of get sprinkled in, maybe spice it up a little bit, right?
03:29-03:36
Maybe add some stuff to the story, and over time, the myths get taught as fact.
03:37-03:37
Right?
03:37-03:42
And I think that that happens with the story of Jesus' birth probably more than anything.
03:42-03:54
We just start adding stuff to it, adding stuff to it, adding stuff to it, and now we're not 100% sure everything that actually did happen and what I might have seen on a Hallmark movie.
03:55-04:28
I had a good friend, he passed away this past year, but I shared the gospel with him so many times, and his health was very bad near the end, and I think the Lord was starting to turn the lights on, and we would have spiritual conversations, and I remember so often he would say, You know, some people don't have a lot of money to give to the church, but I think we can all learn a lesson from the little drummer boy who didn't have money to give to Jesus, but he played his drum for Jesus.
04:28-04:30
And I think we can all learn a lesson from that.
04:31-04:47
And I would say, "You know that that's not a true story, right?" And no joke, he would say to me, "Jeff, I am shocked that you as a pastor would not believe." I'm like, "What, that I would not believe a story that's not in the Bible?" "I can't believe what I'm hearing you say!
04:49-05:16
As a pastor, I would expect you to believe!" And I think he died believing that when Jesus was born, there was some kid standing there, "Durrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr And that's this. Joseph was Jesus' dad.
05:16-05:21
And the virgin birth part of the story, it just isn't true.
05:21-05:25
It was just sort of added in later, and Joseph was really Jesus' dad.
05:26-05:28
That is the biggest myth that gets pushed at Christmas.
05:29-05:31
And we certainly don't want to myth Christmas, do we?
05:31-05:33
So let's get back to the source material.
05:33-05:36
Look at Matthew 1. We're gonna pick up in verse 18.
05:37-05:43
It says, "Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way." Just underline that in your Bible in this way.
05:44-05:48
Okay, not according to the myths you might have heard, according to this way.
05:49-05:53
When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph...
05:53-05:55
Let's stop right there. What do you mean betrothed?
05:55-05:58
Well, there were actually two stages of a Jewish wedding.
05:59-06:01
There was the Kedushin and the Huppah.
06:01-06:03
The Kedushin was the engagement.
06:04-06:05
It was a little different than in our culture.
06:05-06:10
You actually had families that would draw up a contract, and the couple was legally married.
06:10-06:14
They didn't have any contact with each other during the betrothal.
06:14-06:25
But this period, which would be 6 to 12 months usually, it would prove that she wasn't pregnant, and it would prove that he was hard working, as he would go off to set up their place to live.
06:26-06:29
That when wedding day actually came, he had a place to take her.
06:30-06:33
It was much more serious than engagements in our culture.
06:33-06:37
In our culture, you get engaged, you decide to break it off, you break it off.
06:37-06:45
And this culture, because the family entered into contracts with each other, it actually required a legal divorce to end the engagement.
06:46-06:47
So hold on to that thought for a second.
06:48-06:53
So you had the Kedushin or the engagement to betrothal, you had the chuppah, that was the wedding.
06:53-06:55
And the wedding lasted seven days.
06:56-06:58
Wedding and wedding feast, wedding reception.
06:58-07:07
I don't know if they had a cookie table at these weddings, but Pittsburghers have a hard time imagining a wedding without one, don't we?
07:07-07:09
But we have Joseph's dilemma here.
07:09-07:15
That they were betrothed, they were engaged, they were legally married, but not yet together.
07:16-07:28
Look at verse 18, "Before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit." And you've got to admit, that would have been a very tough one for Joseph to hear.
07:28-07:41
Mary says, "Joseph, I'm pregnant." "Oh." And you know the first question, "Who's the father?" She's like, "Well, it's God." That had to have been tough, right?
07:43-07:46
I mean, if we're going to be honest, that sounds a little crazy, doesn't it?
07:46-07:48
Or the world's worst lie?
07:49-07:50
Look at verse 19.
07:50-08:01
It says, "And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly." So Joseph said, "Look, we're going to get a divorce for sure.
08:02-08:10
I'm engaged to this woman that says she's pregnant and she says that God caused it.
08:10-08:12
Like, it's got to be over.
08:13-08:16
And they had two options for divorce. They could have had a public divorce.
08:17-08:19
And you can see how a man feeling betrayed would opt for this.
08:20-08:22
It was public shaming in a public court.
08:22-08:25
But the other option was private. It was just two or three witnesses.
08:25-08:27
It was done in secret. No one needs to know.
08:28-08:33
and your Bible says that Joseph was a just man, and he was a compassionate man.
08:33-08:42
That whether he thought she was lying or whether he thought she was crazy, or he didn't know what to think, he goes, "Look, you know what? I love her." Just do this quietly, right?
08:43-08:47
It would have taken a message from God Himself to change Joseph's mind.
08:48-08:50
That's exactly what he got. Look at verse 20.
08:50-09:08
It says, "But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit." So you see, Joseph had Mary's condition confirmed.
09:09-09:11
These were the days before Maury Povich, right?
09:12-09:19
Like, "Joseph, you are not the father!" And he's running around, "Yeah, I knew it! I knew it!" Like, wait, wait, wait, wait. What does that mean?
09:20-09:21
That Mary's condition was confirmed.
09:22-09:24
that the Lord sent an angel to Saint Joseph.
09:24-09:25
She's telling the truth.
09:26-09:27
Look at verse 21.
09:27-09:37
It says, "She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." God wasn't going to take any chance on the name.
09:37-09:40
I worked with a girl when I was working through college.
09:40-09:43
I worked at a local Walmart, and I worked with this girl.
09:44-09:46
She had a very unusually spelled name.
09:46-09:48
And I heard somebody reference her one time.
09:48-10:04
They said, "You need to go ask Lori." And I said, "Well, who's Lori?" And they said, "You know Lori. She has the curly hair and the glasses." And I'm like, "No, I don't know who that is." You know, she works back in the crafts department. I was just drawing a complete blank until I realized who they were talking about.
10:04-10:11
I brought it up to her. I said, "Lori, you have a very unusual spelling for your name." Like, how did that happen?
10:11-10:18
I thought there was some, like, you know, family story or it was some ethnic or cultural thing.
10:18-10:36
I was expecting some really fantastic story, and she said, "My dad was drunk when I was born, and when he was filling out the paperwork, he didn't know how to spell 'Laurie.'" So her name was literally spelled L-O-R-E-R-I-E.
10:37-10:41
"Laurie." Well, not implying that Joseph was in such a condition when he was naming.
10:42-10:43
But you see, the Lord wasn't taking any chances.
10:44-10:46
This child has to have the perfect name.
10:47-10:49
A name that's not arbitrary.
10:49-10:53
"Yeah, that sounds nice. I think I'll go with that." It wasn't a family name.
10:54-10:56
You're the fourth Richard born in our family.
10:56-10:59
It wasn't a trendy name like a lot of babies are named today.
11:00-11:05
What's popular, when God names, He names by defining the person.
11:06-11:07
Did you see that?
11:07-11:19
"You will call His name Jesus." The name Jesus, Yeshua or Joshua means "the Lord saves." "You will call this child 'the Lord saves.'" Why? For He will save His people from their sins.
11:20-11:31
So Mary was told that God would deliver a baby through her, and Joseph was informed, and then Matthew reminds us that we were all told long before this event back in Isaiah 7.14.
11:32-11:49
It says, "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which means 'God with us.'" "Emanu" means "with us" in Hebrew. "El" is "God." So literally, "with us" is God.
11:49-11:53
That God would literally and physically be with us.
11:53-11:55
Then we see Joseph was obedient.
11:55-11:59
Verses 24 and 25, "When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.
11:59-12:09
He took his wife, but knew her not, until she had given birth to a son, and he called his name Jesus." The question is, was Jesus really born of a virgin?
12:10-12:29
And I wish I could say, "Well, you know, it was awkward for Mary and Joseph at first, but eventually, after a while, everyone sort of accepted it, and this issue never went away. It never did." Jesus himself apparently had people who would fire shots at him over this.
12:29-12:40
John 8:41, in a confrontation with the Pharisees, the Pharisees said to Jesus, We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father, even God.
12:41-12:45
It remained a focal point of controversy throughout history.
12:45-13:04
There was somewhere around the 12th century, this cult came up with this thing, this idea that spread, that Mary, actually her neighbor came in at night and visited her and had relations with her, and because it was night and dark, she thought it was Joseph.
13:05-13:08
And then when she was pregnant, Joseph knew that it wasn't him.
13:08-13:13
So Joseph, after the baby was born, he took off because he knew it wasn't his baby.
13:13-13:16
And that silly belief spread.
13:16-13:21
But the sad thing, churches, it's not just with non-believers and cults.
13:21-13:30
Even pastors and churches and denominations drift away from this idea that Jesus Christ was literally born to a virgin.
13:30-13:56
I read an article this past week about an extremely well-known pastor, I'm not going to mention his name, but in 2016 he said this, "If somebody can predict their own death and resurrection, I'm not at all concerned about how they got into the world," this pastor said in a December 4th sermon at his church, which draws 36,000 attendees across six locations in suburban, you know, his town.
13:56-14:05
He says, "Christianity doesn't hinge on the truth or even the stories around the birth of Jesus, it hinges on the resurrection of Jesus.
14:06-14:10
And like a lot of people, this pastor sees the virgin birth of Christ as a minor point.
14:10-14:21
It's not really important if Jesus was born of a virgin, but the truth is, whatever you're celebrating at Christmas this year, this is the most important point.
14:21-14:25
That Jesus Christ was literally born of a virgin.
14:25-14:30
So today for a couple minutes I just want to share with you why I believe Jesus was born of a virgin.
14:31-14:35
So taking notes, write this down. Number one, it is the straightforward teaching of Scripture.
14:35-14:37
It's the straightforward teaching of Scripture.
14:38-14:45
For people to deny that Jesus was born of a virgin, they have to sort of do some hermeneutic acrobatics.
14:45-14:55
But if you're going to read and believe the Bible straightforwardly, It says that the Savior, Jesus Christ, was born to a woman that had not ever been with a man.
14:56-14:59
One of the objections I'm sure you've heard, I've heard it many times.
14:59-15:03
People say, "You know, when the Bible says 'virgin,' you know that word 'virgin'?
15:03-15:10
You know, you could translate that to mean 'young maiden' or 'young woman.' You know, that word can be translated that way, you know?
15:10-15:12
It could just mean a young woman, you know?
15:13-15:13
It could mean that.
15:14-15:18
But then I go back to Matthew here, and Matthew points out verse 18.
15:18-15:37
He points out, "Before they came together," then verse 25, he says, "But Joseph knew her not "until she had given birth to a son." And I read this and I think, well, if Matthew was going to communicate that Mary was actually a virgin, what else could he have said other than what he said?
15:38-15:43
And he quoted Isaiah 7.14, which becomes a center point for a lot of this.
15:44-15:46
Well, virgin can just mean a young woman.
15:47-15:52
But when you think about it, if you're going to hold to that interpretation, that makes Isaiah 7.14 pretty silly.
15:53-15:53
Let me explain.
15:54-16:05
If you go back to Isaiah 7.14, the context here, Israel was afraid that Syria was going to come through and wipe out the kingly line of Israel.
16:06-16:18
They were afraid. They're like, "If our kingly line is going to end, Syria's going to come through, it's all going to be over." And God was reassuring Israel by saying, Listen, here's a sign that the kingly line is always going to continue.
16:18-16:20
Here's the sign. You ready for a sign?
16:20-16:21
The sign is this.
16:22-16:24
A day is going to come that a virgin is going to give birth.
16:25-16:28
And that's going to be a sign that Israel, you're always going to have a king.
16:28-16:36
So, if "virgin" means "young woman," like some people claim, my question is, what kind of a sign is that?
16:37-16:41
That the Lord's like, "Hey, I've got a sign for you." You ready for this sign? It's going to blow your minds.
16:42-16:43
A woman's going to give birth.
16:43-16:52
"Whoa! I've never heard of such a thing!" That's not a sign. Did you notice it happens everywhere all the time?
16:54-16:57
Did you notice our nursery, our toddler room?
16:58-17:00
It's not a rare occurrence that a woman has a child.
17:01-17:04
But I'll tell you what is rare, a virgin having a child.
17:04-17:05
That's the sign.
17:06-17:08
And church, it all boils down to the integrity of God's Word, right?
17:08-17:11
It's the bottom line of everything we believe.
17:11-17:22
If you don't want to trust God, but you don't want to outright deny the Bible, you're going to start trying to intellectualize the Bible by reinterpreting some very clear passages.
17:23-17:26
So look, if you don't want to believe the Bible, that's your decision.
17:26-17:28
But don't try to make it say something else.
17:29-17:33
God said what He meant, and He meant what He said. Amen?
17:34-17:38
And He said very clearly that the Savior was going to be born to a virgin woman.
17:39-17:40
So it's a straightforward teaching of Scripture.
17:40-17:45
Number two, "God is able to do it." God is able to do it.
17:45-17:52
I mean, hearing this, you're like, "It's pretty far-fetched that a virgin would give birth." Do you think it's far-fetched?
17:52-17:53
Do you think it's far-fetched?
17:53-17:55
I'll tell you somebody who thought it was far-fetched.
17:55-17:56
Mary.
17:57-17:59
Mary thought it was the craziest thing she ever heard.
17:59-18:01
Luke 1.34, do you remember what she said?
18:02-18:07
She said, "How can this be? I'm a virgin." She's like, "I've never been with a guy.
18:08-18:16
How can it be?" Which, by the way, if you're still holding to that "virgin could mean young woman" thing, that makes Mary's statements sound pretty silly, huh?
18:17-18:21
"I'm going to have a baby. How can it be? I'm a woman." Well, men don't do it.
18:22-18:26
But do you remember what the angel responded, Gabriel responded, Luke 1.37?
18:27-18:32
He said this, "Nothing will be impossible with God." Nothing will be impossible with God.
18:32-18:34
And that's just theology 101.
18:35-18:38
that God is able to accomplish anything.
18:38-18:41
And He always does what He promises.
18:41-18:48
It's just so interesting to me that you look at some of the miracles in the Bible and the level of controversy that surrounds them.
18:49-18:59
There are people that don't struggle with "God parted the Red Sea for the Israelites," or "Jesus fed the 5,000 men plus the women and children." Like, I don't have any problem with that.
19:00-19:06
But then you get to this idea of "Jesus was virgin-born," and then all of a sudden we have all these objections and all this...
19:06-19:07
Like that's the line that's too hard for God.
19:08-19:09
I read a story this week.
19:09-19:17
One day C.S. Lewis was sitting in his office in the English department when a friend who was an unbeliever wandered in.
19:17-19:29
There were carolers below in the courtyard singing Christmas carols and the two were speaking and they could hear the carolers singing a Christmas carol that contained words about Jesus' virgin birth.
19:29-19:58
The unbelieving friend said to C.S. Lewis, "Isn't it good that we now know better than they did?" And C.S. Lewis said, "What do you mean?" And his friend replied, "Well, isn't it good that we now know more than they did?" And C.S. Lewis said, "I'm afraid you'll have to explain." And his friend says, "Well, isn't it good that we now know that virgins don't have babies?" And C.S. Lewis looked at his friend incredulously and said, "Don't you think that they knew that?" That was the whole point.
19:59-20:00
God is able to do it.
20:00-20:02
So it's straightforward teaching of Scripture.
20:02-20:03
God is able to do it.
20:03-20:05
And finally, it is essential for salvation.
20:05-20:09
Jesus had to be fully God and fully man both.
20:09-20:12
Why? Because it was man who brought sin into the world.
20:13-20:16
It would require a man to bear the punishment for sin.
20:17-20:27
But, He also had to be God in order to be sinless and offer a perfect sacrifice once and for all that would save all who would believe.
20:27-20:40
Because if Jesus Christ just had two human parents, if you're going to buy the myth that Joseph was Jesus' dad, then the sad reality is Jesus Christ was just another human being, and he was no different than you or I.
20:40-20:58
You know, think of that famous pastor that says, "Christianity doesn't hinge on the truth, or even the stories around the birth of Jesus, it hinges on the resurrection of Jesus." If Jesus Christ wasn't fully God and fully man in the manger, He wasn't fully God and fully man when He was on the cross.
20:58-21:05
And if He wasn't fully God and fully man when He was on the cross, then His death on the cross didn't mean anything.
21:06-21:11
You know, there's something about the Nativity scene that sort of fills us with hope.
21:11-21:46
I think sometimes we sort of reduce the Nativity scene to this story of this poor pregnant woman who overcame the odds and the obstacles and made it in time to give birth and we just sort of leave it at that. That the nativity scene is about a young couple that overcame tremendous obstacles. But this year I want to encourage you don't myth Christmas. This is the story of God himself becoming a man, entering the world in a most unexpected way, ultimately, to save you from your sins.
Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 1:18-25
GROUP
Why is the virgin birth an essential doctrine of our faith? What would it mean if Jesus WAS just “Joseph’s son”?
Why do you think so many churches / pastors / Christians deny the straightforward teaching of God’s Word regarding the virgin birth? What reasons would motivate someone to deny it?
BREAKOUT
Pray for one another!