Naylor Community Christian Church
I. Introduction
-- turn in
Bibles to Isaiah 7:14
Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a
sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him
Immanuel.
-- earlier
this year, my niece had her first son -- we weren’t there for the birth, and
there were some difficulties in the pregnancy -- but we finally got the opportunity
a few weeks after he was born to go up to Adel and see him
-- you know how it is with babies
-- they get passed around from person to person -- except for me -- one thing I
don’t do is hold babies because I don’t want to be responsible in case I drop
them
-- so, everyone was getting the
chance to hold the baby -- and at one point, I looked over and Kim was sitting
on the couch, holding the baby and just looking at it -- we got back in the van
to go home and she said, “I got a baby smile!
He gave me the biggest smile!" -- and it just made her day to have my
niece’s baby see her and smile at her
-- there's
just something about babies that warms a person's heart -- everybody likes
babies -- there's just something special about the sight and the sound and the
smell of a baby -- I used to have parents apologize to me at church when their
babies would cry or make noise during the sermon, and I would tell them to
never apologize for the sound of a baby, because that sound was what gave a
church life -- that sound was what made a church alive -- babies are miracles
from God -- babies are special
-- think
about it -- right now, everyone in this country is running around like crazy --
buying presents -- putting up decorations -- preparing food and special treats
-- and why? -- to celebrate a baby! -- to celebrate the birth of a child at
Christmas
-- but let
me ask you this -- I just told you that all babies are special -- all babies
are miracles of God -- so why is everyone going nuts about this one baby who
was born in a manger in a tiny country in the Middle East over 2000 years ago?
-- what makes this baby so special?
-- is it
because He was the only one born on that day? -- doubtful -- here in the
-- in fact,
the odds are you know somebody who shares your birthday -- I don't know a lot
of people, but I personally know four people and several celebrities that have
the same birthday as me -- we were born on the same day, along with thousands of
other people
-- here's a
little fun game to try -- if you are in a group of 23 people, the statistics
show that there is a 50/50 chance that someone in that group shares a birthday
-- the next time you’re in a large group, ask everyone when they were born and
see if you don’t have someone match with someone else in your group
-- the fact is that there are a lot
of people who share birthdays across this world -- so, it's a pretty good
guarantee this baby we celebrate at Christmas was not the only baby born on
that day in the whole wide world -- in fact, He was probably not the only baby
born on that day in Israel
-- just as
an aside since we're speaking of sharing birthdays -- did you know that more
babies are born on Tuesdays than any other day? -- do you know what day I was
born on? -- that's right -- a Tuesday
-- the only
exception to this is Christmas -- fewer babies are born on Christmas Day than
any other day, even if Christmas falls on a Tuesday -- in the United States,
there are about 220,000 babies born each day, but only 172,000 are born on
Christmas Day1
-- so, if
all babies are miracles from God and all babies are special and we know this
baby from the Bible wasn't the only baby born on that day 2000 years ago, why
are we taking time out of our busy schedules to stop and celebrate the birth of
this one particular baby? -- what makes this child so special?
II. The Importance of the Virgin Birth
-- well, we
see part of the answer here in this prophecy from Isaiah -- and we see this
prophecy spoken of again in the New Testament, as Joseph is told by the angel
that Mary’s child is the fulfillment of this very same promise from God -- hold
your place right here and turn over real quick to Matthew 1 and let's read that
together -- Matthew 1:18-23
Matthew 1:18 This is how the birth of Jesus the
Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but
before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy
Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not
want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the
Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be
afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from
the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the
name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had
said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
-- we all
know the story, right? -- I was telling Kim just yesterday how hard it is to
prepare messages for Advent and Christmas because there aren’t a lot of texts
in the Bible addressing the birth of Jesus -- you’ve got this passage from
Matthew -- you’ve got the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth -- the story of Mary
being told by the angel Gabriel she would bear the Son of God -- and then you
have the Christmas story in Luke Chapter 2 -- and because there are so few
texts related to the story of Christmas, everyone has heard them -- everyone
knows them by heart -- and it’s hard to come up with something new or different
to engage the congregation -- so, without a doubt, all of you know what’s going
on in this passage in Matthew 1 that we just read
-- Mary has been told by Gabriel
she is going to become pregnant by the Holy Spirit out of wedlock -- and she
tells Joseph the story -- but when he hears that she’s pregnant, he immediately
believes what all of us would believe -- that Mary had cheated on him
-- but then the angel appears to
Joseph, too, and tells him that Mary's pregnancy was a miracle -- not just a
miracle like the birth of any baby is a miracle -- not just a miracle of nature
-- but a miracle of supernatural origin
-- even
though Mary was a virgin and had not had sexual relations with another man, she
was pregnant through the Holy Spirit in fulfillment of this prophecy in Isaiah
7:14
-- so, the
promise from God is given again -- but this time, Joseph is told that the
prophecy is being fulfilled by Mary’s unborn child
-- go ahead
and flip back to Isaiah 7
-- so now
you see one reason why this baby born on Christmas Day is so special -- we all
know that it takes a man and a woman to make a baby -- except in this one case
-- the only time in the history of the world or in the future to come when we
see a woman become pregnant without the involvement of a man -- as Isaiah puts
it here, "the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a Son"
-- yes, I
know -- women can have artificial insemination -- technically, there may be
virgins in the world who had a child through artificial insemination -- but in
all of those situations, a man was involved -- the woman had to receive the man’s
sperm in order to become pregnant
-- but that
wasn’t the case with Mary -- Mary was supernaturally impregnated by God Himself
-- and that makes all the difference in the world
-- the
doctrine of the virgin birth is something we don't talk about a whole lot in
the church anymore, but it is foundational to our faith -- and I’m going to
make this declaration and I want you to hear it and to know and to believe it
-- without the virgin birth, there would be no Christmas -- without the virgin
birth, there would be no Savior
-- Larry
King, the legendary interviewer and talk show host, was once asked the
question, "If you could select any one person across all of history to
interview, who would it be and what would you ask them?" -- Larry replied,
"I would like to interview Jesus Christ, and I would like to ask Him if He
was indeed virgin-born -- the answer to that question would define history for
me"2
-- there's
a contemporary Christmas song that we hear on our Christian radio stations this
time of a year that makes the bold statement in the title, "A Baby Changes
Everything" -- I think it's more correct to say, "A Virgin Birth
Changes Everything" -- as Charles Stanley once put it, "The virgin
birth is an essential historical indication of the Incarnation. It confirms
both Jesus’ humanity and His deity."3
-- so, in
this second Sunday of the Advent Season, I wanted to take a few moments to talk
about why the story of the virgin birth as prophesied in the Old Testament and
as experienced in the New Testament is so critical to our faith
A.
What is the Virgin Birth?
-- let's
begin by addressing a couple of common misconceptions -- pardon the pun -- of
common misunderstandings about the virgin birth
-- first,
the virgin birth is not the same thing as the immaculate conception -- you’ve
probably heard that term before, but it’s not something that we talk about in
our churches
-- the Immaculate Conception is a
doctrine of the Catholic Church that is not shared by the Protestants -- in
other words, it's not something that we accept as a scriptural doctrine or
scriptural truth because we do not find it in Scripture at all
-- a lot of
people hear that term -- immaculate conception -- and assume that is referring
to the birth of Jesus by Mary -- but it is not -- instead, the Catholic doctrine
of the immaculate conception refers to Mary's birth, not Jesus’
-- we'll
get into this a little later, but here’s the crux of the issue -- in order for
Jesus to go to the cross as our atoning sacrifice -- in order for Him to substitute
Himself in our place in what we call “substitutionary atonement,” Jesus had to
be one of us -- He had to be fully human, but He also had to be
sinless -- we all agree on that fact -- Catholics -- Protestants -- all of us
-- so, the question both Catholics
and Protestants have wrestled with is “how is a baby born sinless?” -- we’ll
get to that in a moment -- but it was that question that the Catholic Church
was trying to answer when they came up with the Doctrine of the Immaculate
Conception
-- understand this -- we are all
born sinners -- we’re not sinners because we sin -- we sin because we are
sinners -- as David said in Psalm 51:5, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful
from the time my mother conceived me.” -- so, how could Jesus be born sinless?
-- to answer that question, the
Catholic Church teaches that in order for Mary to give birth to a sinless son,
she had to have been sinless from birth herself -- the Catholic Doctrine of the
Immaculate Conception is that Mary was conceived and born without original sin
and never sinned in her life, thus making it possible for Jesus to be born
sinless
-- now, we
reject this doctrine of the Catholic Church because we believe that Jesus was
the only person who was ever born sinless and who lived a sinless life in full
obedience to the Father -- and that’s why He and only He was able to go to the
cross to offer up Himself as our sacrifice in order to pay the penalty for us --
that’s why He is our Savior
-- in fact,
Mary herself recognized her need for a Savior, just like us -- she knew she was
a sinner -- she knew she needed forgiveness for her sins and needed salvation --
listen to what she says in Luke 1:46-47
Luke 1:46 And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
47 and my
spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
-- did you
catch it? -- Mary said, “God, my Savior” -- Mary was not sinless and needed a
Savior, too -- and that’s why she recognizes Jesus as her Savior and why she
calls on God for salvation in this verse
-- I just wanted to make sure you
knew what people were talking about when they used the phrase, "immaculate
conception" -- I didn’t want you to get confused -- it's not about Jesus
-- it's about Mary
-- so,
that's the first misconception -- the first misunderstanding -- about the
virgin birth -- the second misconception you’ll hear in regards to the virgin
birth is from some people who want to come up with an alternate explanation as
to why Jesus’ birth was not a miracle -- there people will tell you the
doctrine of the virgin birth is wrong because of a mistranslation of this verse
in Isaiah 7:14 -- they assert that when Isaiah writes, "The Lord will give
you a sign -- the virgin will be with child" -- the Hebrew term used for
virgin here is almah -- it literally
means, "unmarried woman"
-- based on
this, some more progressive and liberal scholars contend that Isaiah's prophecy
was not that a virgin would be with child but that an unmarried or young woman
would be with child -- thus, they say, there is no scriptural basis for a
virgin birth and the miracle of Christmas did not happen as we see recorded in
the gospels of Matthew and Luke
-- however,
I want you to know this -- when Isaiah wrote this prophecy down, an unmarried
woman was synonymous with a virgin -- if she wasn't, then she was stoned to
death -- remember the story of Joseph and Mary? -- what did Joseph do when Mary
came to him and told him that she was pregnant? -- he decided to divorce her
quietly because the penalty for adultery under the Law of Moses was stoning --
and he didn’t want that to happen to her -- so, he was just going to handle the
situation by divorcing her
-- so, you’re
not going to see unmarried pregnant women in the Old Testament -- they’re going
to get judged for that -- and the penalty in the law was death -- so, it’s not
likely that is what the prophecy in Isaiah 7:14 is referring to
-- also, when the Old Testament was
first translated from Hebrew into another language, it was translated into
Greek by 70 Jewish scholars -- they put together a Greek translation called the
Septuagint -- this is the same Bible that Jesus used
-- these
were men who knew Hebrew, who knew the traditions of Judaism, who knew the Law,
and who understood the intent of God's word as written in the original Hebrew
-- these 70 Jewish scholars who translated the Bible into Greek before Jesus'
birth translated the Hebrew word almah
into the Greek word parthenos, which
literally means "virgin" -- and that's pretty authoritative -- they
believed that was what God had prophesied through Isaiah, and so that's why
they translated the word as “virgin” in the Septuagint
-- in fact,
every use of the word almah in the
Old Testament refers to a virgin, so when these liberal scholars try to say
Isaiah doesn't mean virgin in this one verse, they're really trying to twist
Scripture in a way that the Bible doesn't support -- simply to support their
idea that the birth of Jesus was not supernatural
B.
Why is the Virgin Birth Critical?4
-- now,
there's several reasons why the virgin birth is critical and foundational to
our faith, but I'm just going to go over two of them for time's sake:
-- First, the virgin birth proves the deity of
Christ
-- the talk
show host Maury Povich made a career out of one question: "Who's the father?" -- and that's
really the question we have to ask about Jesus -- that's really the question
that determines if our faith is real or not
-- Who is
the father of Jesus? -- if the liberal scholars and the others who doubt the
virgin birth are correct, the father of Jesus was just some guy who hooked up
with Mary before she got married -- it might have been Joseph -- it might not
-- doesn't really matter who it was
-- but the
implication of that is profound -- because if there was no virgin birth, then
Jesus is just an ordinary guy -- there's nothing special about Him -- sure, He
might have been a prophet -- God might have made Him able to do miracles -- but
He would have been just another, ordinary human being like all of us
-- but we
don’t believe that -- as a foundational part of our faith, we say and believe
in the church that Jesus was fully man and fully God -- in fact, if you've ever
wondered why there are usually two candles on the altars of most churches,
that's the reason -- it is to symbolize the dual nature of Christ -- fully man
-- fully God
-- but if
Mary was not a virgin -- if she actually had sexual relations with a man out of
wedlock -- if there was a physical father who sired Jesus -- then Jesus would
not have been divine -- He would not have been deity -- He would not have been
God
-- however,
in the Bible we read Jesus was the Son of God and not just an ordinary man --
Mark 1:1, "The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of
God" -- in Matthew 8:29 we read that the demons within a possessed person
cried out to Jesus, "What do you want with us, Son of God?" -- and in
Matthew 27:43, as Jesus was on the cross of Calvary, the priests confirmed that
Jesus called Himself the Son of God, "Let God rescue Him now if He wants
Him, for He said, "I am the Son of God."
-- four
different sources there -- a gospel writer, fallen angels, Jewish priests, and
Jesus Himself -- all four sources confirming that Jesus either was, or called
Himself, the Son of God
-- the
Father Himself said on two occasions -- at Jesus' baptism and then again at the
transfiguration -- "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased"
-- and when
Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel and told she would have a son, she asked
him how this would be possible since she was a virgin -- Luke 1:35, "The
angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the
Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the
Son of God."
-- finally,
John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son..."
-- the
Bible clearly teaches that Jesus was the only begotten Son of God -- His Father
was God -- and that requires a supernatural, virgin birth -- it’s the only way
that Jesus could be both fully God and fully man
--
Second, the virgin birth is required for the atonement of our sin
-- the good
news of the Bible is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, lived a sinless life
and died on the cross of Calvary to pay our sin debt and rose again on the
third day to prove His victory over sin and death -- making it possible for us
to have eternal life with Him, to be forgiven of our sins, and to be reconciled
with the Father
-- this is
the basis of our faith -- this is why we gather on Sundays -- this is why we
worship Jesus
-- but -- and
this is a big "but" -- this is only possible if Jesus was indeed
sinless -- if Jesus were not sinless, there would be no sacrifice for our sin
-- He had to be sinless in order to pay for our sin debt
-- this
comes down to the doctrine of original sin -- as I mentioned a few moments ago,
we are all born sinners because of original sin -- and this is important to
understand -- let me repeat this to you again, because this is important -- you
are not a sinner because you sin -- you sin because you are a sinner -- it’s
who you are -- it’s how you are born
-- when a
child is conceived, that child is born infected with a sin nature that was
passed down from Adam -- we inherit our sin nature from him -- as the Bible
puts it, the trespass of the one man -- the first Adam -- sentences all of us
to death because of his sin
-- so, if
Jesus had been born in the normal way -- to a man and a woman -- Jesus would
have inherited original sin from his earthly father -- He would not have been
sinless -- He would have been born a sinner, just like us -- and He would have
required a Savior for Himself, too
-- but we
believe Jesus was born of a virgin through the power of the Holy Spirit --
because Jesus' father was God Himself, then Jesus was born without sin -- He
did not inherit a sin nature through a mortal man but was begotten sinless
through the Father, becoming, as Paul calls Him in 1 Corinthians 15:45, the
"last Adam, a life-giving Spirit"
-- because
He was sinless, Jesus was able to perfectly keep and fulfill the Law of God and
go to the cross on our behalf as a sinless and spotless sacrifice
-- no one
else could pay the sin debt of the world because everyone else who has ever
been born was born with the sin nature inherited from Adam -- only Jesus was
born apart from Adam without this sin nature, making it possible for Him to be
the perfect sacrifice
-- so, you
see, the virgin birth is critical -- it proves the deity of Christ -- it proves
Jesus was both fully God and fully man -- and it is critical for the atonement
of our sins -- without a Savior who was sinless who could go to the cross on
our behalf, no sacrifice was possible
-- our
entire Christian faith -- the forgiveness of our sins -- our atonement with the
Father -- our eternity -- rests upon the virgin birth of Jesus
-- and that is why Christmas is
such a big deal, whether the people who are celebrating it realize it or not --
that is why we celebrate the birth of this particular baby who was born over
2000 years ago in a tiny middle Eastern country -- it’s because He was special
-- He was born sinless -- He was born fully human and fully God -- and that is
the basis of our faith
III. Closing
-- in the
Christmas carol, "What Child is This?" we are reminded that there is
something different -- something special -- about the child that was born in a
manger on Christmas Day
-- out of
all the children born that day -- out of all the little babies who shared a
birthday with Jesus -- there was something different about Him -- something
that made His birth stand out
"What
child is this, who, laid to rest,
On Mary's lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems
sweet,
While shepherds watch are keeping?
This, this, is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard and angels
sing:
Haste, haste to bring Him laud,
The babe, the son of Mary."
-- when
Jesus was born in a manger in Bethlehem, His birth was announced in the heavens
by the star of Christmas and by angels who praised His birth and gave glory to
His name with the shepherds
-- He was
the Word made flesh -- the King of Kings -- the very Son of God -- co-existent
and co-eternal with the Father -- and He had come to bring salvation to the
world
-- so, as we
continue to celebrate this Advent Season -- as we prepare our hearts and our
souls to celebrate the first advent -- the first coming of Jesus at Christmas
-- make sure your celebrations are all done in remembrance of this special
child -- the sinless Son of God -- born in a manger to a virgin -- born to die
for our sins -- born to give us eternal life
-- let us
pray
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SOURCES:
1See: How many babies are born on Christmas day?
[http://didyouknow.org/how-many-babies-are-born-on-christmas-day/]
2
3Charles Stanley, In Touch Website, http://www.intouch.org/you/all-things-are-new/content?topic=the_importance_of_jesus_birth_all_things
4Outline borrowed from sermon: "The Virgin
Birth: Does It Really Matter?" -- Sermon by Jerry Flury [http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/the-virgin-birth-does-it-really-matter-jerry-flury-sermon-on-virgin-birth-180903.asp?page=0]
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