Today is the third Sunday of Advent
The whole reason for the Advent was to initiate the new covenant and to save the lost.
Explain relationship and use of husband/divorce language in Bible
Matthew 1:18-25
“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’).
“24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a Son. And he gave Him the name Jesus.”
The virgin birth or better said the virgin conception
"Larry King, the CNN talk show host, was once asked who he would most want to interview if he could choose anyone from all of history. He said, 'Jesus Christ.' The questioner said, 'And what would you like to ask Him?' King replied, "I would like to ask Him if He was indeed virgin-born. The answer to that question would define history for me'."
The news for Larry King is that this fact not only defines history but it defines the present, and it defines where you and I are currently living and making decisions, and, it defines eternity as well!
John MacArthur says, "The virgin birth is an underlying assumption of everything the Bible says about Jesus. To throw out the virgin birth is to reject Christ's deity, the accuracy and authority of Scripture, and a host of other related doctrines that are the heart of the Christian faith. No issue is more important than the virgin birth to our understanding of who Jesus is. If we deny Jesus is God, we have denied the very essence of Christianity."
Thomas Jefferson, however came down on the other side of faith and is quoted as saying, "The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus by the Supreme Being as his father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter."
In 1820 Thomas Jefferson retired from politics and at the age of seventy-seven, sat down to edit the New Testament for the second time. He purchased six Bibles—two in English, two in French, and two containing both Latin and Greek—and cut them up, creating a second edited version of the New Testament, in four languages.
In this book, he kept the words of Jesus and some of his deeds, but left out the miracles and any suggestion that Jesus is God. The virgin birth is gone. So is Jesus walking on water, multiplying the loaves and fishes, and raising Lazarus from the dead. Jefferson’s version ends with Jesus’ burial on Good Friday. There is no resurrection, no Easter Sunday. Jefferson called this version “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth.”
A poll of 7,441 Protestant clergy showed a wide variation in belief. The following ministers do NOT believe in the virgin birth: American Lutherans 19%, American Baptists 34%, Episcopalians 44%, Presbyterians 49%, Methodists 60%, Millard Erickson says, "Next to the resurrection, the most debated and controversial event of Jesus’ life is the virgin birth."
Now listen, if you think people today struggle with the virgin birth check out poor, old Joseph that we read about in Matthew chapter one …
First, Mary has had an encounter with Gabriel and has been told at least three things …
She’s been told that the Holy Spirit is going to perform a miracle on her and that she will have a baby even though she is still a virgin.
She has been told that this baby will save His people from their sins and she must name Him Jesus.
She has been told that her relative, Elisabeth, who is aged and barren is also going to have a baby and she is now in her sixth month of pregnancy.
So, even though Mary is engaged to Joseph, she decides to go on an extended trip to Jerusalem to see her elderly relative Elisabeth who is expecting a baby.
Joseph waves good bye to his wife-to-be and she heads out to Jerusalem as his pure, future bride.
Gabriel’s message to Mary is then verified and validated in that when she reaches Jerusalem she finds Elisabeth in the full bloom of pregnancy, the baby within Elisabeth jumps within her womb at the sound of Mary’s voice and Elisabeth somehow knew that Mary was to be the mother of the Messiah.
Mary then stays with Elisabeth for three months until John is born and then she heads back to Nazareth.
When Mary headed out to Jerusalem to see Elisabeth she looked like a normal teenage girl. Now there’s a bump in her belly. And this is more than a bump in the road causing the car to swerve. For Joseph this is a pot-hole the size of the Grand Canyon, a blown engine, a stripped transmission and an exploding gas tank all rolled in one!
Mary is pregnant!!!!!!
So, how do you start that conversation? So, Mary, what did you do up there in Jerusalem? Did Mary try to explain? We don’t know.
We do know that Joseph either was not told what was going on or he just did not believe her. Joseph was a kind man with a heart for the law of Moses and a heart for Mary.
It says in verse 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.”
Joseph wanted to obey the law of God and at the same time did not want Mary to be stoned to death as a result of her obvious adultery.
Joseph could have made a public accusation of Mary’s adultery. This would have cleared his own name and would have kept him in right standing with his neighbors and leaders of the local Synagogue.
Sometime soon after Mary’s return to Nazareth an angel of the Lord intervenes on behalf of Mary and Jesus when the following meeting takes place which is reported in verses 20-21
“But after (Joseph) 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.”
Now, Joseph has been told about Mary’s conception and that the Child is to be named Jesus. Mary was given the same information, that the Child would be from the Holy Spirit and that He was to be named Jesus!
When do you suppose that they found out that an angel had told them both to name the Child Jesus? Did they discuss the name before Joseph’s encounter with the angel? Could that have been the one bit of information that tied the whole thing together in Joseph’s mind? We’ll never know, but, it appears that this encounter with the angel in the dream convinced Joseph of Mary’s story and Joseph obediently did as he was told.
This same obedience is seen in Joseph’s response to angelic visions when he is instructed to move from Bethlehem to Egypt to avoid the deadly wrath of Herod, and when he was told to return from Egypt with Mary and the Christ Child and then when he was told to divert the destination of the return from Judea to Nazareth, once again to preserve the life of Jesus.
This immediate, unquestioning obedience is a great example for us, but, you might say that it would be easy if the Lord sent an angel with instructions. Maybe, maybe not.
Anyway, back to the main question of this morning.
Why is the issue of the virgin birth so important?
Why is the virgin birth such a big issue?
Either Jesus was and is the Son of God or he was the son of adultery and that in itself makes the virgin birth narrative a lie.
Have you ever taken the time to set up a row of dominoes and then you push the first one and the first one knocks down the second one which knocks down the third one which knocks down the fourth one, etc until they have all fallen?
The same case exists with the Holy Scriptures; when you knock one down then the next one falls, etc.
So, either God created the heavens and the earth or it’s just a piece of fiction.
Either Adam sinned causing a rift between God and mankind that only God could remedy or it’s just a story.
Either God walked and talked with Abraham or He did not.
Either God delivered the nation of Israel from Egypt by His mighty power or it’s a lie.
Either God carved the Ten Commandments on two tablets of stone with His own finger or Moses did it with a chisel and hammer and just said that God did it.
Either the prophets predicted the fall of Israel and their domination by Babylon, Syria, Greece and Rome or it was written after the fact and disguised as a prophecy which makes it a lie.
Either Jesus was born of a virgin or He was not making Him a human like any other or He is the Son of God.
Either Jesus is God or He is not.
Either faith in Christ brings us forgiveness and acceptance into the kingdom of God or it is a cruel hoax.
Either Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life who was crucified for the forgiveness of our sins and who rose from the dead and is now interceding for us in heaven or he was a demonic liar who was justly crucified and rotted in the grave like any other man.
Either the Bible is true or it is not.
Either the God we serve is the all powerful, all knowing, omnipresent God about which the Bible speaks from beginning to end or God is just one more little hand made idol to be knocked over and forgotten.
Larry King displayed a shadow of understanding when he, as an unbeliever, declared that the truth or falsity of the virgin birth was the pivotal event of all of human history.
So, where do you stand on this subject?
Was Jesus, God the Son born of a virgin becoming the Son of God or is it all just another piece of fabricated flotsam floating on the sea of history.
This decision is the pivotal decision in your journey through eternity.
John 3:16-18 - what will you believe …
There comes a time when you must make a decision and a failure to make a decision is in itself a decision. God is calling you now …
Invitation Song: Just As I Am
