“The Birth of our King”
Introduction:
I heard of a man reading the story of Jesus’ birth to some day-care children one
morning. As usual he stopped to see if they understood.
"What do we call the three wise men?" he asked.
"The three maggots," replied a bright 5-year-old.
"What gift did the Magi bring baby Jesus?" he corrected.
"Gold, Frankensteins and smurfs!" the same 5-year-old replied.
A small boy was writing a letter to God about the Christmas presents he badly wanted. "I’ve been good for six months now," he wrote. But after a moment’s reflection he crossed out "six months" and wrote "three". After a pause that was crossed out and he put "two weeks". There was another pause and that was crossed out too. He got up from the table and went over to the little crib scene that had the figures of Mary and Joseph. He picked up the figure of Mary and went back to his writing and started again: "Dear God, if ever you want to see your mother again…!"
Each day it is getting closer and closer to the time in which we appoint to remember the birth of Jesus. We typically associate during this time of year the Christmas lights, and the presents and all that jazz. There is something that is more important to remember and that is the thing that is left out of the season and that is Jesus. Jesus truly is the reason for the season. Although there are many misconceptions that are among us during this time of the year, but there is no doubt that the birth of Jesus was one of the most miraculous events in all of history.
It amazes me that God loved us as individuals so much that he would send His son to die for us, and His son would leave the glory above and come humbly to the Earth that He created.
Satan had tried for thousands of years to prevent this one event from taking place; he tried to pervert the Messianic line from the beginning. He tried to kill of the Jews, hoping to wipe the Messiah out in doing so. He worked through Herod to destroy the children, yet he could not outwit God, and God worked to preserve the Messiah. Without the birth of Jesus there could not be a death and resurrection. There was a time when I downplayed the importance of the birth of Jesus because of the way that society has butchered this historical event, but just because something is abused doesn’t mean it should be refused. The birth of Jesus shows to us the great love of God.
Galatians 4:4-5
The Old Testament scriptures predict the coming of Jesus into the world, and this is what the prophets and the people under the Law longed to look into. The message that they preached was the Messiah was coming. 2,000 years ago all the hopes of the prophets came true in that manger in Bethlehem. The salvation of the whole world hinged on the birth of Jesus. Jesus came helpless and was dependent on people just as every other baby. He learned to walk and talk just as every other child, but this baby had something special about Him. He was God’s own son. He came helplessly, but he rose triumphantly. The birth of Jesus is a central point in time in history, so central that even our dating system begins with the birth of Jesus. Let us look at this spectacular birth that brought the savior into the world.
Text: Matthew 1:18-25
I. Visioned
The Old Testament is not silent regarding the birth of Jesus…in fact the scriptures speaks of the visions that people had of the Messiah that was to come into the world, and those visions gave people hope that they would have redemption from their sins. Especially as you look to Hebrews 11, you see that people were looking forward to that which was ahead. The way that a person was saved under the law was by having faith the God would bring the Messiah into the world. The birth of Jesus is a visioned birth predicted and spoken about in the Old Testament scriptures.
a. By Adam
Adam and Eve were tempted in the Garden and were told by Satan that God was holding back special knowledge from them. The partake of the forbidden fruit, indulging their pride. From that point in time sin entered into the world. From that point in time man was in need of a savior because their relationship and fellowship with God was severed. From early on the plan that God had was revealed to man. Man didn’t know the time that this would take place; they just knew that it would be of the offspring of woman.
Genesis 3:15
The text promises that the offspring of woman would strike Satan’s head. Adam and Eve had faith that this redemption would come soon. They had their first son and named him Cain, which means “striker”. I believe that Adam and Eve thought that this was the predicted striker of the head of Satan. We looking back think of Cain as “striker” because he killed Abel, but I believe that Adam and Eve thought that he was the striker of the head of Satan. Adam and Eve were revealed some information about the birth of Jesus, but they were not given the total revelation.
b. By Abraham
Next we see that the promises of God came to Abraham as he lived in Ur of the Chaldees. God chose him, and gave him two promises. First he promised that his descendants would be great as the sand on the sea shore. Secondly, he promised that His seed would bless all nations meaning the Messiah would come from the line of Abraham. Abraham was given a little bit more information about this birth, and the line that Jesus was to come from was being narrowed down. Abraham was revealed information about the birth of Jesus.
c. By Isaiah
As Isaiah preached to the people of Israel, He was shown by God about the Messiah that was to come into the world.
Isaiah 9:6-7
As you look at the life of Jesus and compare it to Isaiah’s message you can see that Jesus was indeed those things. The birth of Jesus was visioned by the prophet Isaiah years before His actual birth.
d. By Mary
As Mary was sitting at home one day an angel appeared to her and told her that she was going to give birth to a son. She didn’t understand how this could be since she was a virgin. The angel Gabriel explained to her that the Holy Spirit will conceive the baby, and you shall give birth to the long expected Messiah. Finally, the time in history had come for the Messiah to be born. Could you imagine the thoughts going through the head of Mary, that she was going to be pregnant with the Messiah, the Savior?
The birth of Jesus was a birth that was predicted and spoken of long before it took place, and he came and was born just as the Scriptures predicted he would be born.
II. Vital
The birth of Jesus was a vital birth, perhaps the most vital birth that has ever been. There was a lot hinging on the birth of that baby. The birth of Jesus was vital for many reasons…
A. To fulfill the Scripture
Jesus was born the way that he was first of all to fulfill scripture. As you read the Old Testament predictions about the timing, the manner, and the location of His birth you stand amazed that Jesus fulfilled every one of these Old Testament predictions. He was predicted to be born in Bethlehem…he was born in Bethlehem. He was predicted to be born by a virgin…guess what? He was born of a virgin. The list goes on and on. Jesus’ birth was a vital birth in that it was to fulfill what was spoken of in the scriptures of the Messiah that would come and save people from their sins.
Hebrews 7:11
B. To provide the Savior
There was a rather sad letter in the newspaper a few years ago, written by a man telling how empty Christmas was for him. He was divorced, his children grown & his family scattered. His conclusion was that Christmas is only for people who have perfect families - who never experience divorce - who always have plenty of love. Christmas is only good when children are young & enjoy opening gifts. Christmas no longer had any meaning to him.
I wish someone had told him that Christmas is a time for all to remember Jesus. Jesus is the savior not only of the happy, but of the broken-hearted. Jesus is the savior to all the world, rich and poor, male and female, black and white. Christmas is a time for all people to remember Jesus, but Christmas only truly means something to those who know Jesus.
Luke 2:11
Jesus was the Christ. Christ wasn’t his last name, Christ was his title. It means “anointed one”, it is the same word as the Hebrew Word Messiah, which means savior. Jesus is the savior of the world.
Without a savior man’s sins could not be forgiven. Without the shedding of blood their was no forgiveness of sins. Jesus had to come to save people from the guilt and penalty of their sins. His birth was vital in that the salvation of the whole world came into the world with Jesus.
C. To bring hope to a lost Society
Luke 1:35
Isaiah 9:6
Jesus came into the world and brought with Him the hope of Heaven. No person could have hope or assurance that they would make it into heaven. They hoped they would make it, but the didn’t have the hope that we know today. We have a hope that we will spend eternity with God because of what Jesus had done.
Society during Jesus; time was lost and hopeless. Jesus came to bring hope to that society. He offers the same thing for people today. He offers hope to the hurting. No job or family member can provide the hope of eternal life that Jesus brings. Jesus came into the world to offer hope to a lost society
You surely can see that Jesus’ birth was a vital birth.
III. Virgin
In scriptures there have been other miraculous births. Samuel was born miraculously when his mother seemed barren. Isaac was born miraculously when his parents were past the age of Child-bearing. John the Baptist was born miraculously as it was foretold by angels to His father in the Temple, but none are as amazing as the birth of Jesus. These other miraculous births included two parents, but Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit proving His divine nature. The virgin birth is even foretold in the Old Testament…
Isaiah 7:14
Despite attempts to highlight Mary in this story, the focus of the virgin birth is on Jesus not on Mary. It is focusing on God becoming flesh.
I have been asked on many different things how it is possible that Jesus was born from a virgin the way the scriptures tell and predict? The truth of the matter is it doesn’t make sense and that is what makes the birth of Jesus so amazing. The Virgin Birth must be accepted by faith. It cannot be explained other than by Scripture. We must take God at His word. Many today who consider themselves Christians claim the Virgin Birth is a fable. If this is so, then Jesus was either deceived or was a deceiver. The virgin birth is amazing and completely true and must be taken by faith because God’s Word says so. One cannot be a Christian and not accept the birth of Jesus the way in which the scripture speaks of it because the birth, the death, the burial and resurrection of Jesus all stand and fall as one. If you remove one of those miraculous events from the life of Jesus then Jesus is a liar, and the Old Testament scriptures are not accurate.
In order for Jesus to be our sacrifice he had to be a sinless fully man, and he had to be fully God, one can see how only through the virgin birth is it possible for Jesus to be fully man and fully God at the same time. The birth of Jesus was a virgin birth no matter what critics may say. I don’t understand it, it doesn’t make logical scientific sense, but then again it is not supposed to…it was a miracle that proves to us He is God. We can be assured that we stand in the Truth because as Jesus came he came the way that the prophets said he would come, and he did not sit and plan to fulfill those, many prophecies he fulfilled were beyond His control. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life and no one can come to the Father except through Him. We can be sure of this because Jesus was born of a virgin, miraculously.
IV. Victorious
I love victories, especially when it is who you want to win that are victorious. One of my favorite victories was in a college basketball game a few years back. It was March, and the NCAA basketball tournament was in full swing. There were eight teams left, and I remember that the University f Kentucky was playing number one ranked Duke. Kentucky thought they had the victory, they were up by one, but there was still about 2 seconds on the clock. Everyone counted the game over and considered it an upset victory. Duke didn’t give up. I remember those great seconds vividly. Grant Hill passed the ball all the way down court to Duke’s star play Christian Laittner. Laittner caught the ball at about the foul line, dribbled the ball once, and turned around and shot the ball and as the ball was in the air the buzzer went off signifying the end of the game. I remember it went in slow motion as it came down to that shot to determine the end of the season for one of those teams. Finally, the ball came down, and went down into the basket, and Duke won in what some would call the most amazing game in college basketball history. The emotions were extreme on both ends, they were crying and shouting and jumping and falling to the ground. I don’t know if anyone who watched the game didn’t shout for one reason or another; they did so because of the great victory.
After Jesus’ mission was completed he had achieved a great victory in many areas…
a. Over Satan
As Jesus completed his mission dying as that perfect sacrifice he was victorious over Satan. Satan’s head had been crushed as God promised Eve in the Garden of Eden. While Satan still has some power, he does not control people’s eternity, Jesus died to set them free from the bondage of sin and the grips of Satan. What a great victory over his great foe. Satan no longer has to have mastery over you, but you are free to choose to live for God. When Jesus comes again the second time it will be finished, Satan and His angels and the wicked are going to be thrown into the Lake of Fire. I want to be on Jesus’ side because he is victorious. I am not a betting man, but I know that no one is dumb enough to bet on a surefire loser. No one would simply through money away like that. Jesus is a sure bet, he has won, he is victorious over Satan.
b. Over Sin
The victory that Jesus had is the greatest victory that he had or that has ever been. For years people were bound by their sins, and had no hope for forgiveness of sins. After Jesus came he saved His people from their sins.
Matthew 1:21
The mission that Jesus had from His birth was to come and to be the victory over sins. Since Jesus lived a perfect life he was able to be that perfect sacrifice so that man can come to God. Sin was the thing that separated man from God. It was because of sin that man lost fellowship with God, but Jesus bridged that gap, Jesus redeemed us so that our sin was overlooked by God. Jesus was obedient to death on a cross so that your sins might be forgiven. He offers you even today to come to Him and have those sins washed away and removes as far as the east is from the west if only you’ll come to Him. Jesus has already won the victory over sin, it is just up to you to get on the winning team and let Him cover over your sins.
I heard an old, old story how a savior came from glory
How he gave his life on Calvary to save a wretch like me
I heard about His groaning, of His precious blood atoning
I repented was baptized and washed my sins away
Oh, victory in Jesus, my savior forever
He loved me heir I knew Him and all my love is due Him
He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood
Conclusion:
If you had been a lowly shepherd who heard the angels sing,
Would you have left your sheep alone to find the baby King?
If you had been the innkeeper - pressed & hurried since the dawn,
Would you have done the best you could, or told them to move on?
If you had been a wise man - due respect & courtly graces,
Would you have left it all behind to search in unknown places?
We cannot know what we’d have done if we had been there then.
We only know what we do now - when chances come again.
