Title: The Virgin Birth
Text: Matthew 1:18-25
December 9, 2007
New Hope Community Chapel
Goal: Changed Lives. Changing from feeling that God has forgotten us to knowing that when HE speaks things happen.
Main Point: What is the one thing I want my audience to
know? When God speaks, the impossible can happen!
Application: What do I want them to do about it? Put their faith in the God who speaks and makes things happen.
Turn to: Matthew 1:18-25
Introduction:
It was a Sunday afternoon, and I don’t know for sure what caused my mom to do it, but she was out in the yard on wet grass and to make things worse, there was a slope in the lawn.
She was bothered by the length of the grass and what else was a 9 month pregnant woman to do?
She went out and mowed it – with a push mower.
Well, she slipped and fell flat on her backside.
She had just been to the Dr. on Friday and he told her I was positioned just right and I would be out before the weekend was through, but the fall must have caused me to do a somersault.
I was born at 2:00 the next morning – sunny side up.
Now days, they would turn a baby back around or do a c-section.
But this was 1972.
There was really nothing spectacular to note about my birth.
Just that my mom has probably held it against me to this day the fact that I came into the world backwards and have basically gone against the grain ever since.
I was present at every one of my children’s births – how could I miss that?
Laura went into labor when I was at one of my first job interviews for a staff pastor position.
When Christopher was born I said to the Dr., “How could anyone thing abortion is O.K. once they have witnessed this!”
Laura was in labor for a long time with Christopher, so when she went into labor with Hannah we decided that we could wait at home a bit longer.
I cut my hair and took a shower, then I called the nurse and told her what the spacing of the contractions was.
She said, “You better get in here right away!”
It was a 15 minute ride to Mankato.
As we were leaving St. Peter I was going about 50 mph on the highway through town.
It was about midnight on a four lane high way with no traffic.
I asked Laura if I needed to speed and she said no, but then followed up with,,, “But you could at least go the speed limit!”
In Mankato (5 minutes later) we were again on a 4 lane street with no traffic.
I was cruising right along when I noticed the police officer on the side of the street.
He followed us for a t least a mile. I kept going the same speed.
Just before the hospital he pulled me over.
Before he got to the car I said, “My wife is having a baby!”
He shouted, “Get going! Don’t stop for me!”
He then escorted us – lights and all to the hospital’s front door.
Every man’s dream.
Hannah was in our arms about an hour after we were in the hospital.
Taylor was born on a Wednesday morning in Mankato.
We figured we shouldn’t wait at home as long this time.
Taylor was the biggest baby that Laura has had yet.
But after, 2 others, he popped right out.
Our Dr., Dr. Taylor, came in his blue jeans from raking his leaves to deliver Taylor – our only fall baby.
Joshua was born in Emmetsburg.
We liked the treatment of a small hospital so much that Laura begged me that she could do it again.
So here we are, about to do the whole show again.
Problem:
My mom has a job, in Sioux Falls, of picking up foster kids and bringing them to a site for parental visitation.
She told me yesterday about a baby named “Rain”.
Rain’s mom was a teenager hooked on drugs.
Rain is permanently damaged and it’s not her fault.
She has all kinds of defects as it relates to her mother not wanting her and then not taking care of herself while she was pregnant.
Rain will suffer for many years if not for all her life.
The other day when mom was hauling Rain in the van she was reminded by a radio program that was playing that – no child was a mistake.
God gives life.
Like I said a couple of weeks ago, your life story may be rather boring.
Your entrance into the world may have been less than spectacular.
Your parents may have been surprised by your arrival, but God wasn’t.
We all came into this world in basically the same way.
A man and a woman came together, loved each other – if only for a moment – hopefully, and in a perfect world, it would be for life.
God’s standard and expectation for human sexuality is one man and one woman, inside of a life long commitment that is terminable only by death.
That is not something that became obsolete in the 70’s with the love liberation.
God doesn’t change His standards and He doesn’t give them to ruin our fun.
If only those who are sexually active before they are married knew what they were doing, physically, emotionally and spiritually to both themselves and their future spouse, they would readily agree that it is not “fun” right now.
But enough of that…
We spent about 9 months being carried by our mother’s before making our way into the world.
Most of us were born in the hospital.
At least the place we were born was somewhere warm, dry and well lit for us, but not for the Savior of the world.
No, He wasn’t conceived by the actions of a man and woman.
He was conceived by the Word of God.
God spoke, and the virgin became pregnant.
That’s rather spectacular and unusual, don’t you think?
So unusual that an angel of the Lord had to show up to announce it so that it would be believable even to the mother.
And He had a very special name given to Him at His birth – Jesus.
Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Yeshua (Joshua).
It means, the Lord saves.
I think it’s important to consider the meaning behind a name.
We have given thought to every one of our children’s names and then I pray that they will live up to those names.
It was important for Jesus – His future task was described in His name.
Jesus came to save people.
Not in a political or military sense – that’s what the people were looking for.
They had been oppressed by the Romans for 400 years.
They were subjects – not really slaves, but not much better.
But those who were looking for a political leader didn’t understand the prophecies that had been spoken about Him.
He came to save all people from their sin.
That’s good to know – because all people have sinned.
The Bible says if we claim to be without sin – we are a liar – last I checked, that was one of the Big 10!
Sin is the greatest enemy of all mankind and we have all been infected with it.
Some people say, I don’t believe everything the Bible calls “sin” is really sin anymore.
I think the main reason they do that is because they want to try to justify their sinful actions.
In order to sleep at night they tell themselves that whatever they are committing as sin is not really sin and sooner or later they begin to believe it.
Since when did God’s Word become obsolete?
Some people have tried to call the Old Testament obsolete because they don’t like the fact that it calls for a high standard of living.
Some people think sin is God’s way of keeping us from enjoying the really fun things in life.
But sin isn’t fun forever – oh, it is fun for a little while, if it weren’t fun you’d quit doing it.
If you didn’t think it was of some immediate value to you, you would quit.
If you didn’t think it would spare you a little pain, perhaps discipline or embarrassment, you would never tell another lie.
If you didn’t think it would satisfy some selfish desire you would never look at pornography or lust after another person’s body.
Sin will destroy your life – in this life - and it will have a damning effect on your soul and your eternity.
That alone should make you want to repent of your sin and turn to God.
Jesus’ birth was nothing close to ordinary.
Mary and Joseph had a story to tell!
It was because of His virgin birth that He was able to be the Savior that saves us from sin.
You can be set free from sin and guilt and you can be set free from the slavery of sin through the atoning death of Jesus and the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit.
But it couldn’t have happened any other way.
Jesus had to have a virgin birth.
Let’s read about it in Mathew ch. 1.
Solution:
Matthew 1:18-25
Now this is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph, her fiancé, being a just man, decided to break the engagement quietly, so as not to disgrace her publicly.
As he considered this, he fell asleep, and an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. "Joseph, son of David," the angel said, "do not be afraid to go ahead with your marriage to Mary. For the child within her has been conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." 22 All of this happened to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:
"Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and he will be called Immanuel (meaning, God is with us)."
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord commanded. He brought Mary home to be his wife, 25 but she remained a virgin until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus. NLT
Both Mathew and Luke mention the fact that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin mother without the intervention of a human father.
It happened just as the prophet Isaiah had predicted 700 years earlier when he wrote…
Isaiah 7:14
The Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. NIV
Isaiah, Mathew and Luke all state that the mother of the Savior would be a virgin.
You say, pastor, why is that important?
Well, in order for Jesus to qualify to be our Redeemer and pay for our sin and offer salvation, he had to be, in one person, fully human, sinless and fully divine.
Hebrews 7:25-26
Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
26 Such a high priest meets our need — one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. NIV
The virgin birth satisfies all three requirements:
The only way Jesus could be born a human being was to be born through a woman.
The only way He could be born sinless was to be conceived by the Holy Spirit.
The only way He could be Divine was to have God as His Father.
And as a result, His conception was not by natural, but by supernatural means:
Luke 1:35
…the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. NIV
Jesus Christ, then, is one person, both fully Divine and sinless and fully human.
Since Jesus was a human being, He is able to sympathize with us in our suffering and in our weaknesses.
And as the Son of God, He has the power to deliver us from sin’s bondage and the power of Satan.
He qualified to serve as a sacrifice for the sins of every person, and now, since He has risen from the dead, He is qualified to serve as our High Priest interceding on behalf of everyone who comes to God.
Application:
So What?
You may be thinking, Pastor, that is interesting, but how does it affect my life today?
I can sum that up for you in seven words.
When God speaks, the impossible can happen!
Think about it…
When God spoke, the earth and all the universe, everything on earth including humans came into existence.
When God spoke the heavens began to pour out their rain and the whole earth was flooded and purged of sin in the days of Noah.
When God spoke the heavens shut off their rain and the earth became desolate in the days of Elijah.
When God spoke a virgin conceived a child and that child was the Savior of the world.
Some time before the Christmas program practices took over the sanctuary, our adult Wednesday night Bible study was on the attributes of God.
He is omnipotent: He is all powerful.
And He is not limited by or dependent on the processes of nature which He established.
Now What?
When God speaks, the impossible can happen!
When God said, “By His stripes you are healed.” – it seems impossible, but it happened – you are healed.
When God said, “Son, rise up from the grave.” – it seems impossible, but it happened – Jesus was risen from the dead.
When God said, “I will never leave you; I will never forsake you” – it seems impossible, but it happened.
When God said, “I will supply all your needs” – it seems impossible, but it happened.
When God speaks, the impossible can happen!
When God said, “Your sins are forgiven.” – it seems impossible, but it happened – it is as though they never were in His eyes.
When God said,
“Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 NIV
– they won’t.
When He went on to say,
“And that is what some of you were. – some of us were those things. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:11 NIV
You may have been a sexually immoral, idolatrous, adulterer, a prostitute, homosexual or a thief, you may have been a greedy person, a drunk, a slanderer, or a swindler who was on a path for destruction – not on a path to eternal life, but when God speaks, the impossible can happen and If you have come to Him for cleansing, if you have confessed your sin and have turned from it in repentance – it seems impossible, but you are not what you were!
If you have never confessed your sin – you need to.
If you have not repented and turned away from it – you need to.
You need to accept what Jesus the Savior did for you.
Acts 4:12
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." NIV
Vision:
What would change in your life if you heard God speak to you today?
Would you be on the path you are on?
Would you be doing the things you are doing?
God has spoken in His Word and He continues to speak today – are you willing to listen?
Would you answer Him the way Mary did, “I am the Lord’s servant, may it be to me as you have said”?
When God speaks today we can trust Him because He is the same God who has proven Himself faithful for thousands of years.
When God speaks the impossible can happen…
Luke 1:37
For nothing is impossible with God. NIV
Invitation:
What do you need to have happen in your life… is it impossible? Good. Now God can do the impossible… Let Him speak.
