WHO WOULD HAVE DREAMED
Luke
2:6-7
It was November 28th 2000
around 8am, where a married couple were awaiting the birth of their first child. Soon
to be new parents for the first time where emotions, fears and the unknown of
what to do when the child arrives from tummy to World. I
will say it was one of many beautiful days we have been blessed to be a part of
and we would never give those moments up for anything this world has to offer. We
had the comfort of a clean, warm, helpful hospital called Oshawa General. We
had a car to transport my pregnant wife too. We
had everything we need to make this a safe and wonderful experience for two
young inexperience people. Since
it was our first time and we had no clue what to do. All
the excitement and the fear of the unknown and the not knowing what to do all
went away that morning when we held our child in our arms for the first time. I remember holding our child (all our children) for the first time
and how happy and proud I felt that I was blessed to be a dad. All
the pain of child birth Julie went through seemed to be not so important when
she held her babies for the first time.
Can you imagine how Mary and Joseph felt
that evening in a dirty, smelly cattle stall?
A
young girl who hasn’t even had relations with her husband yet because they were
in the betrothal period of their relationship. A
man who is a hard working carpenter who has a soon to be wife who is pregnant
with child that isn’t his. The
emotions fear and excitement they must of felt leading up to this very moment,
knowing that their lives/ours would be changed forever. To
think that Mary and Joseph held the Creator of the Universe in their hands, and
to top it off knowing He was the one who would lay His life down so that we
could have eternal life. This
event in history is recorded for us to see and read because like them, our
lives depend on the supernatural birth of His incarnation.
This
is why we celebrate Christmas as a church and as families. Christmas
reminds us of God’s goodness in our lives, because He sent His Son to save our
wretched soul out of the blackness of sin. Christmas
is a time to reflect and give thanks to a holy God who loved us and gave us the
greatest gift ever given………HIMSELF! A
gift that only God could give worthy of all acceptance and praise for sinners
like us. Christmas
is a time that reminds us and always points us to Christ ad His redeeming love. Christmas is all about Christ…..it’s
all about the birth of Christ! It’s
a time that we shouldn’t take light, because without this divine historical birth,
we would still in our sins facing condemnation from a holy God. Though,
we may not know the actual date of his birth and all the stories we read about
paganism that surrounds Christmas! One
thing for sure….. the birth of Christ is a vital doctrine to the Christian
faith.
Sadly,
the world doesn’t want to remember that day some 2000 plus years ago; but there
is no escaping this truth of the supernatural work of God in the virgin birth.
It’s as one journalist said “The ungodly
have never been more terrified of that baby in the manger, the Christ child,
than they are today. They are truly the children of Herod, who sought to
destroy the child to prevent Him from being king in Israel. For today’s secularists, it’s very much
about who shall be king in America: themselves or Jesus Christ.”
My
question for you this morning is!
What does the virgin birth mean to you? This
supernatural historical event is so vital, to our salvation, our lives hang in
the balance of this truth.
Moses
penned these words “.....will put enmity Between
you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your
head, And you shall bruise His heel." Gen 3:15
Isaiah
penned these words some 700 years before the incarnate Christ was born "Therefore
the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and
bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel." Isa 7:14
Jeremiah
said “How long will you waver, O
faithless daughter? For the LORD has created a new thing on the earth: a woman
encircles a man." Jer 31:22
In the New Testament we continue to
read passages like…“and
she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus..." Matt 1:21
The
apostle Paul said
"God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law” Gal 4:4
The
virgin birth is very important doctrinal
truth to the true Christian church. Why
do I say that? Many
people then and today try to convince this event never happened. And
if that’s true and they are right! We are
in a heap of trouble and the church is lost. Here are a few of the reasons for not
believing in the virgin birth as some say.
There
is no reliable evidence. We
have no eyewitness accounts, no doctor confirmations, no DNA samples to see if
this is true or not. But
what do you say to the shepherds who went to see this child born in a cattle
stall. (Luke 2:15-20)
Some
say the earliest references are late and sparse. It
seems likely the virgin birth was created to boost the authority of
Christianity through prophecy and to compete with rival gods who were born of
virgins. Then
how do you explain when John penned these words “He
was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not
know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.” John
1:10-11
Another
reason people use is that they would
never, ever, believe this today. Imagine
if a teenage girl in your neighborhood claimed that her pregnancy was due to
God impregnating her and that she was still a virgin. Would
you believe her? Or would you think she was lying? If
she insisted on it being true, we would put her in a mental hospital.
Sadly
many continue to try and rationalize everything to fit their world view or how
they see things!
But
as the bible says “it is foolishness to
those who perish” and “The
fool says in his heart there is no God” But the other side to disbelief is wrong worship! Some
even try to make the virgin birth as a means to worship Mary herself, above
Jesus the God man.
John
MacArthur wrote this “A
long tradition of overzealous souls throughout history have wrongly exalted her
to godlike status. Unfortunately, even in our era, Mary, not Christ, is the
central focus of worship and religious affection for millions. They think of
her as more approachable and more sympathetic than Christ. They revere her as
the perfect Madonna, supposedly untouched by original sin, a perpetual virgin,
and even co-redemptrix with Christ Himself.” John goes on to say “Catholic dogma teaches that she was taken
bodily to heaven, where she was crowned “Queen of Heaven.” Her role today,
according to Catholic legend, is mediatory and intercessory. Therefore,
multitudes direct their prayers to her instead of to God alone—as if Mary were
omnipresent and omniscient.”
There
was an interview with a pastor of one of the largest churches in the States,
and he was asked specifically what he believed about the virgin birth. Your
thinking to yourself this should be easy! He replied “I could not in print or in
public deny or affirm the virgin birth of Christ. Another
church leader recently called the virgin birth a story on the level with an
Andy Capp comic! He said “Because Andy Capp is true, he is
true in our imagination and so is the virgin birth.” This
is insanity if the virgin birth means nothing if it resides only in the collective
imagination of humanity. One
recent book claimed that Jesus was a the illegitimate child of a Roman soldier
who had a love affair with Mary. He
said this because Nazareth was located on the main highway to Jerusalem and
Nazareth was notorious for corruption, immorality and prostitution. But this skepticism was nothing new! “Nathanael
said to him, "Can anything good come
out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." John
1:46
So
I ask you the question again! What does the virgin birth mean to you? Why
is the doctrine of the virgin birth so important to the Christian church? “This
doctrine, wrote James Orr, affects the whole supernatural estimate of
Christ—his life, his claims, his sinlessness, his miracles, his resurrection
from the dead. But the virgin birth is assailed with special intensity, because
it is supposed that the evidence for this miracle is more easily got rid of
than the evidence for public facts, such as the resurrection. The result is
that in very many quarters the virgin birth of Christ is openly treated as a
fable, and belief in it is scouted as unworthy of the twentieth century
intelligence.” This
has been His promise since the very beginning of time, when Adam and Eve sinned
in the garden.
Ever
since the beginning of creation this has been our….
Blessed
hope to future things with Him in Heaven.
Peace
and rest in a holy God.
Restoration
and reconciliation with a wrathful and just God.
Joy
of salvation found in Christ alone. (Sola Christus)
We
need to see and realize how important the birth of Christ is, as we come together
today and every day.
To Throw Out The Virgin Birth Is To
Reject Christ’s Deity
And
when we do this it causes us to question the accuracy and authority of the
Scriptures and a host of other important doctrines to the Christian faith. “Beloved,
do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from
God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the
Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the
flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from
God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now
is in the world already.” 1 John 4:1-3. If
we deny that Jesus is God we have denied the very essence of Christianity. Everything
in the Scriptures hinges on this divine truth as we celebrate Christmas. The
virgin birth is just as equally important as Jesus’ death and resurrection and
ascension. Anyone
who rejects Christ’s deity rejects Christ absolutely, even if he or she
pretends otherwise.
To
Not Listen To The Historical Account of His Birth Is Spiritual Suicide.
Mary recognized the importance of
the virgin birth when she gave this prayer of worship before delivering Jesus
into the world (Luke 1:48-54)
He is Love “regarded the lowly...” ( me a
maidservant) (v48)
He is Mighty
"has done great things for me"
(v49)
He is Holy "holy is His name" (v49)
He is Mercy "to those who fear Him" (v50)
He is Sovereign "strength with His arm" (v51)
He is Righteous Judge "He has
scattered... He has put down... He has exalted the lowly" (v52)
He is Provider "filled the hungry with good things" (v53)
He is the Finisher of our Salvation "He has helped His servant Israel... " (v54)
This
virgin birth was so important not only to Mary, Zechariah prophesied about Him
. "Blessed
is the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited and redeemed His people" (Luke 1:68) And
Zechariah even goes on to say that his only son John would go before this great
Lord and Savior! Paving
the way for the Saviour of the World. In
Luke 1:76-79 we read "And you,
child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the
face of the Lord to prepare His ways, To give knowledge of salvation to His
people By the remission of their sins, Through the tender mercy of our God,
With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; To give light to those
who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of
peace." See,
without this
virgin birth, without Him coming in the form of man….the sin issue
is not resolved and we are still damned to hell! As Oswald Chambers said “Jesus Christ
became Incarnate for one purpose, to make a way back to God that man might
stand before Him as He was created to do, the friend and lover of God Himself.”
If We Deny Or Ignore The Virgin Birth
Then we Will Die In Our Sins.
2Cor
4:6 “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has
shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ.” He
has put His knowledge and glory of Himself in our hearts through the gospel. He
has given us His promise and assurance of His great salvation through His son,
Jesus Christ. The
Apostle Peter says this promise can be trusted through the Scriptures. “whom
having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you
rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your
faith—the salvation of your souls.” 1 Peter 1:8-9. The
English Standard Version says "Though you have not seen him, you love him". The
King James Version says "Whom
having not seen, ye love" Our
faith is a faith in a person who we cannot see, smell or touch, but He lives
inside of us through the Holy Spirit. I
must trust in the scriptures when it speaks about the supernatural work found
in the virgin birth. For
by faith [a faith that God gives us, as a gift] we are saved! Because we
believe the scriptures.
The
virgin birth is so much more than a miracle in Mary’s day ………………it about our [your]
redemption! For
without this virgin birth……………. I am doomed and so are you! If
Jesus had not come, we would not know God’s complete faithfulness. We
would not know the fulfillment of every last promise, including
the very first one he made: that an offspring of Eve would crush the head of
our great adversary, Satan (Genesis 3:15). Redemption
is here to save sinners. Prophecy
has been fulfilled as the prophets foretold. The
Seed has finally come to crush Satan and his fallen angels once and for all. Immanuel
(God is with Us) has finally come to deliver Us!
As Simeon “took him up in
his arms and blessed God and said, "Lord, now you are letting your servant
depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation
that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation
to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel." And his father and
his mother marveled at what was said about him.
And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, "Behold, this
child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign
that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that
thoughts from many hearts may be revealed." Luke 2:28-35
As
Simeon praises God for this selfless gift! Never
forget this wonderful truth of the virgin birth and always be ready to give an
account for the hope that is in your heart this Christmas season.
The virgin birth is essential to the
Christian faith
If
this revelation is rejected, then any other Biblical fact may be rejected. If
the virgin birth is rejected, the deity or humanity (or both) of the Savior
must also be rejected. If
the virgin birth is not true there is no salvation. If
the virgin birth is not valid, man is without hope in time and eternity. If
the virgin birth is error, other doctrines lose their meaning and purposes. So
rejoice in the truth of the virgin birth! For
we know through the scriptures how important and how real the virgin birth was
and is for the believer! Christmas
is a time for the family of God to remember this truth. Christmas
is a time to reaffirm what we always have known. Christmas
is times were we ponder the fact that Mary held God in her hands. Christmas
is a time to reflect on the perfect gift given, that has no price tag……..because it is a priceless gift. That
gift is?
Salvation in the one and only true King and “they
shall call His name Immanuel” Matt 1:23
I
love what John MacArthur says about the Christmas baby…. "If we could condense
all the truths of Christmas into only three words, these would be the words:
"God with us."
The
greater truth of the holiday is His deity. More
astonishing than a baby in the manger is the truth that this promised baby is
the omnipotent Creator of the heavens and the earth!
Merry Christmas
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