Please take a seat, open your Bibles.
We're going to go around the world a little bit because of
the topic, but open it to Luke's Gospel Chapter 1, Luke's Gospel
Chapter 1, tonight's text and Scriptures.
When you see the Jehovah Witnesses and we see him at the
beach, they set up down there and I haven't spoken to them as
yet, but I'm I'm pretty close to having my time.
And because they deny the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, they deny
that Jesus is the Son of God. They say he is a son of God and
all that they deny and every cult is defined.
You define a cult by their non recognition of Jesus Christ
being God in the flesh. And so tonight I want you, I
pray you take notes. There's a lot of going to be a
lot of scriptures. You you need to understand the
difference because Jehovah Witnesses will say, oh, we're
Christians. Mormons will say we're
Christians and they aren't. The Bible actually tells us that
they're wolves in sheep's clothing, that they are false
prophets and they're dangerous. And so we give Bible open to
Luke. Stay there.
But I'm just going to give you a couple of scriptures to start
off with. So we're looking at the virgin
birth. Why is the virgin birth?
Actually it should more technically be said the virgin
conception, the holy conception. The birth was quite normal
except for Mary being a virgin obviously, but the conception
was miraculous. In Isaiah Chapter 7 verse 14,
Isaiah the prophet says therefore the Lord himself will
give you a sign. People always want to sign from
God. Well the Bible is tells you
there is a sign. Behold, the virgin shall
conceive bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel.
That means God with us. In Matthew chapter one verse 23,
Matthew repeats this. Behold the virgin shall be with
child and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel,
which is translated God with us. These are the Then, in Luke 127,
in our text to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name
was Joseph of the House of David, we're getting a little
bit more information. The virgin's name was Mary.
So why the virgin conception anyway?
Why is it important? The virgin birth or the virgin
conception of Jesus is foundational to all Christian
theology. Without it, you have a cult.
The virgin birth was the means of incarnation.
That is the act of being embodied in human form.
That's what incarnation means. God becoming a man.
The incarnation once accomplished.
And you need to know this is a lasting state for our Lord
wasn't just Bethlehem and he rose from the dead and that's
that back to who he was. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 12
tells us of Jesus. But this man capital M Speaking
of Jesus, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever
sat down at the right hand of God in John chapter one verse
29, John, that is John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward
him and said, behold the lamb capital L of God, who takes away
the sin of the world. Jesus in Revelation chapter 5
verse 6 says John is elevated, translated.
He sees the throne of God, and he says, and I looked and
behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living
creatures, and in the midst of the elders stood a Lamb capital
L, as though it had been slain. So the only man made features
that we'll find in heaven are the scars that Christ will carry
forever from his crucifixion. The scars, the very wounds that
he revealed to Thomas, who didn't believe initially stood a
lamb as though it had been slain, having 7 horns and seven
eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all
the earth in Revelation chapter 5, verse 13.
And this is the scripture I'm going to give to the Jehovah
Witnesses, going to write it out, hand it to him.
I'm going to walk away and go Revelation 513 and every
creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth
and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard
saying blessing and honour, glory and power be to him who
sits on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever.
You can only worship God. The Bible tells us that, and
this is this verse that says everyone is to worship the Lamb.
Who's the Lamb? We already know that it's Jesus
Christ. Jesus Christ receives worship.
Why? Because he is God.
This incarnation began Christ's birth in Bethlehem and
continued, albeit in a resurrected body and now
forever. All this coming from an event
that lasted but a few hours. The actual birth, the virgin
birth of Jesus in that stable, in that Manger light, in a
Manger in Bethlehem. It was the Angel Gabriel.
When he announced to Mary, he said she would bear the Messiah.
She would not need a man because Mary Luke 134 said to the Angel,
how can this be? I mean, it can't be since I do
not know a man. Some of the translations have
since I do not have a husband. But we know under Jewish law she
actually does have a husband. She's a spouse husband.
That's why Joseph was going to remember divorcer when he found
out she was pregnant. How since I do not know a man,
the Holy Spirit Gabriel said Luke 135 and the Angel answered
and said to Mary, how this is going to happen?
The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the
highest will over shadow you. This is the conception therefore
also that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of
God. He gives it very clearly of who
she's she's going to give birth to and how miraculous this birth
is going to be. Matthew writes the fact of the
virgin birth in his list of genealogies.
In Matthew chapter one verse 16. He writes in Jacob begot Joseph
the husband of Mary and then comma of whom was born Jesus who
was called Christ. Joseph, Matthew says was the
husband of Mary, but it was by Mary only that Jesus was born.
In Genesis 315 the Lord gave the prophecy of Christ coming.
And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between
your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head,
Speaking of Satan, and you shall bruise his heel.
Now the words of whom? In Matthew 116 in the Greek
language, it's important. It's a feminine singular in the
Greek language, telling us that Jesus was born of Mary only, not
of Joseph and Mary. So the question is, well, but
why all the fuss about the virgin birth?
I mean, a lot of churches don't believe in the virgin birth.
A lot of so called Christians don't believe in the virgin
birth. Why?
What's the big deal about it?
Why is it important? God could have overshadowed both
parents so as to protect the baby's sinlessness had he so
desired. God could say, well, I'm just
going to produce this child, but through Mary only.
Remember, Isaiah 714 said this served as a sign of the
uniqueness of the person who was born.
Now every child born into the world is totally a new creature.
I think that's, you know, the most amazing people say, well, I
don't believe in miracles and I go just open your eyes a little
bit, look around, ask mom and dad when they hold the little
baby, do they believe in miracles?
And every child is a miracle. Every one of us is a miracle,
but Jesus Christ being eternal God.
John chapter one verse one in the beginning was the word and
the word was with God and the word was God.
The Jehovah Witnesses couldn't allow that to stay in their
Bibles so they had to rewrite the Bible and put and the word
was our God in John one verse 2. He was in the beginning with
God. So Jesus is the word in the
beginning was the word and the word was with God, Jesus with
God, the word was God. And then in John chapter one
verse 14, John says, and the word that is God became flesh
and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jesus says I am the way of the truth.
I'm all truth. Jesus existed before Mary or
Joseph Oregon, any of his earthly ancestors.
He actually brought that up when he was arguing with the
Pharisees, didn't he? If Jesus was conceived and born
just as any other child, any other baby, then he could not be
God. It was necessary for Jesus to
enter this world through an earthly mother, but not to be
begotten by an earthly father and by a miracle.
The virgin conceiving of the Holy Spirit, overshadowing
Gabriel, says Jesus was conceived miraculously in the
womb of Mary, a virgin. The Old Testament prophecies
told us that Messiah would be we read Genesis 315, born of a
woman, seed of a woman. Also this child, the Messiah
would be of the seed of Abraham. Genesis 2218 the Old Testament
prophecies tells us that the Messiah would be and come from
the tribe of Judah specific Genesis 4910 the Old Testament
prophecies also told us that he would come from one family
lineage of the family of David to Samuel Chapter 7, verses 12
and 13. So it's worth noting that Jesus
Christ is the only Jew alive who can actually prove his claim to
the throne of David. How is that you?
Remember that all the other records were destroyed when by
General Titus, the Roman legion 70 AD, and not a stone was left
on top. Another, as Jesus said would
happen when the Romans took Jerusalem.
So all the records but one, the record of one that's pretty
important. I remember when I first learned
that many years ago, and that is so out of the bad.
There's something amazing that all these other records are
gone, but we have this one and he's the only one we really need
to know about. Isaiah 714 we read it is the
most explicit prophecy of Jesus birth.
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.
Behold, the virgin shall conceive.
So the virgin shall conceive. That's the miraculous bear.
A son, a male child shall call his name, specifically Emmanuel.
Jesus would be called Emmanuel, God with us and Isaiah Chapter 9
verse 6, many of you know that passage, we get a great detail
of the virgin birth child who would be Messiah.
And so this one person has to fulfil all these things written
hundreds of years before Christ was born.
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.
For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son.
John 316 And the government will be upon his shoulder, and his
name will be called all capitals.
Wonderful counsellor, mighty God you can.
You don't just call Bill Smith from Nazareth, he's mighty God.
You don't do that. You don't call him Everlasting
Father. You don't call him Capital P,
Prince of Peace. A child would be born, a son is
given. He would be a ruler.
He is the King of kings. He would have supreme wisdom.
He would be God. He's the mighty God.
He is the eternal God, Everlasting Father.
He would bring peace, Prince of Peace.
So what's the purpose of the incarnation?
Many will just go, oh, just salvation, isn't it?
Oh, no, no, no, that that's that's the shallow end of the
pool. Actually, that's the wading part
of a pool. The purpose of the incarnation.
You and I need to know. So what's what is it?
1 To reveal God to us. I remember as a child I just
wanted to know. I wanted I used to pray as a
little boy 4-5 years old. I did.
I used to pray God, show me what you look like.
Show me how. What are you like?
I'm afraid that the only way man can see the Father is to know
about the Son. We know about the son through
his word and God was personalised and he became flesh
and dwelt amongst us in in one John John starts off 1 John.
He says we we we touched him, we heard him.
He was in the beginning that was was in the beginning.
Secondly, the purpose of the incarnation was to provide an
example for our lives. People say well how do I live as
a Christian? It's pretty easy.
Read the Bible, read the gospels, follow Christ.
One Peter chapter 2 verse 21 Peter wrote for God called you
to do good even if it means suffering, just as Christ
suffered for you. He is your example.
Good thing to tell your kids you must follow in his steps. 1 John
chapter 2, verse 6. Those who say they live in God
should live their lives as Jesus did.
Without Christ's incarnation we would not have that example.
Remember the WWJD Bengals and things that came out?
What would Jesus do? And I think that's a pretty cool
thing. Those, those actual, that actual
statement. And I actually apply it every
day of my life. I apply it big time in the
pulpit. I've changed so much preaching
from the pulpit because I put in there, would Jesus bother saying
that? Would he even raise that?
And I'm still learning. But what would Jesus say if he
was teaching today? If he was going through this
text, what would he say? What would Jesus say?
But better still, when I'm in a situation and it's difficult and
I've got choices how I'm going to react.
The simple point is, what would Jesus do in the situation?
Because the Bible is full of Jesus telling us what to do.
Love your enemies, pray for those that sparkly, use you.
All those things which we don't like, we put them aside and we
act in our own ways and then we wonder why we get ourselves into
trouble and why we always coming for God.
God, sorry for being such an idiot.
I'm an idiot when I don't do what Jesus did.
I'm an idiot when I don't follow his example.
Thirdly, without the virgin birth, the incarnation, and here
it is, we would have no Saviour, the Jehovah Witnesses, the
Mormons. They have no saviour.
They talk about Jesus, but he's not their saviour because he's
not God in the flesh. You see, sin requires death for
its payment. Why does it?
Because the Bible says the wages of sin is what?
Death. And so to pay for the wages of
sin, it requires death. But here's the problem.
God doesn't die, does he? He's eternal lives forever.
So the servant must be human in order to be able to die.
This is was the problem. When my I found out my brother
became a job witness. I rang him and said, Trevor,
what are you doing? You you joined the cult, He
says. He says, well, but God can't
die. And he didn't see because they
twist who Jesus is. God became a man so he could.
That was the first thing he said back to me the day I rang him.
I said, what's happened to you? You've you've joined a cult.
But the death of an ordinary man would not pay for sin eternally.
Makes no difference. So the Saviour must also be God
for the death to pay eternally we need a God and Saviour and we
have this in our Lord. Hebrews 10 you can read from
word verse one down to verse 10, but Hebrews 10 verse 4 says for
it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could
take away sins. Even though the Jews around a
touch on this on Sunday are going to rebuild the temple
start the sacrifice doesn't do anything with their sin in
Hebrews 10/9 Jesus said behold I have come to do your will, O God
is which is what he prayed in the garden and he takes away the
1st that he may establish the second verse 10.
By that will we have been sanctified through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Why once for all, Why only one crucifixion and then his
resurrection? Because his his death.
Innocent paid the price in full to Telesty.
It's finished, paid, done. We need the virgin birth God man
for David's throne to fulfil the Davidic covenant.
Luke 131 And behold, you will conceive in your womb.
Bring forth the son shall call his name Jesus.
He'll be great will be called the Son of the highest.
The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and
he will reign over the House of Jacob Forever.
That's Israel and of his Kingdom there shall be no end.
That's a pretty hefty prophecy there.
There's a lot of meat there. But to have someone occupy
David's throne requires a human being to fulfil that.
So the Messiah must be human from the family of David.
That's why they went to Bethlehem.
Wasn't it? Tax.
But to occupy the throne of David, the throne forever, A man
can't do that. It requires the occupant to
never die. Only God qualifies.
God doesn't die, so the only one who ultimately fulfils the
Davidic promise has to be God, Man.
Fourthly, the virgin birth. Christ coming as a man, God
becoming a man was so that Satan would be defeated.
Our enemy, Satan must be defeated in the area he
dominates. Paul says he's the he's the God
of this world, isn't he? The Prince and power of the air.
He's the little G When Jesus was in the wilderness, driven by the
Holy Spirit, Satan offered him what the world?
Where did he get it? He got it off Adam and Eve.
I lost them. So Jesus was sent into the world
to destroy Satan's works. 5th point the virgin birth God
becoming a man gave us a sympathetic high priest.
Hebrews 4 verse 14 says, seeing then that we have a great high
priest who has passed through the heavens, who it is Jesus,
the Son of God. We're told, let us hold fast our
confession, for we do not have a high priest who cannot
sympathise. Well, God doesn't understand.
You're wrong. The Bible says he does.
God knows or God doesn't know. Yes he does, because we do not
have a high priest who cannot sympathise with our weaknesses.
God understands absolutely why He walked this world, He
breathed this air, He lived as a man in this world.
He was in all points, tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Let us because of the God man, Let us therefore come boldly to
the throne of grace. Why?
Because Jesus Christ opened the way.
We can come now in His blood, by His blood, by His name to the
Father. There's no temple, there's no
blockage of which the high priest only one day here, when
Jesus was crucified, what happened?
The vile was torn in two from when?
From the top to the bottom. And the ground shook.
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace.
That's the place you go. You know, when you pray, you
think, oh, should I pray? I can't.
Don't feel like praying. You're missing out on grace.
You're missing out on getting what you don't deserve.
I miss out on getting what I don't deserve, that we may
obtain What? When you pray, when you go to
the throne of God, you know what you get mercy.
Now I need mercy. Have you done anything today,
Any of you? Something that you think is not
not really good? Had any bad thoughts today?
Got angry when you shouldn't have.
Got angry that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in
time of need. So how?
How often should we be for the throne of God?
Probably all the time. Our high Priest can feel our
weaknesses because he was tested as we are.
But here's the problem. But it's not a problem.
But here's the clarification. God has never tested.
God does. Well, Gee, that's hard.
How am I going to sort that out? God can't be tested, so how
could we have a high priest who sympathises?
Because God had to become a man so that he could go through
testings like he went through in the Garden of Gethsemane.
So it was necessary for God to become a man, to be able to be
tested in order to be a sympathetic priest.
Lastly, that's pretty important. This one.
God became a man born of a virgin so that he was able to be
a qualified judge. Qualified judge.
Where's that come from? Well, the Bible tells us and
we're getting to that point, our world is Jesus will be our
ultimate judge. In John chapter 5 verse 22,
Jesus said himself, the Father judges no one.
You know this image that I had as a kid of the big old bloke
sitting on a throne and going around with a lever.
Father doesn't do the judging. Jesus does the judging for the
Father judges no one, but has committed all judgement to the
son. Verse 26, John 5 For as the
Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have
life in himself, and has given him authority to execute
judgement also. Why?
Because He is the Son of man. That's the reason He has that
authority to judge us. Every man, every woman, everyone
born in this world because he's walked this path, God became a
man because He is the Son of man.
God the Father gave him the role of judgement.
The Bible says that Jesus Christ is returning and He will judge
the world with righteousness. This is the title, the term Son
of man. This is the title that links him
to the earth and his earthly mission.
Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the Son of God, and He became the
Son of Man. Why is it necessary But for the
Judge to be human and have lived on earth, Why is that necessary?
So that when every individual and every individual will stand
before Christ has rejected him, The second resurrection, the
great white throne judgement, So that Jesus may put down all
excuses He can't say, oh, when you don't, how would you know?
You've never, I have, I did no excuses.
So that he may put down all excuses people might try to
make. But why must the judge also be
God? So that his judgement will be
true and just because every time God is said to judge and make a
judgement, particularly all through in Daniel 9:00, we we
saw it all through the Book of Revelation during the
tribulation period, every time God made a judgement, the angels
and everyone that is exactly the right judgement.
And so the virgin birth is more than a child born in Bethlehem.
The virgin birth is critical to all the foundational truth
doctrine of Christianity. And I pray that you will study
and delve even further into why Jesus was the Son of God, the
Son of man, and why the cults such as Jehovah Witnesses are so
dangerous and so, so wrong. Because they're Jesus, which
Paul wrote about the second our Corinthians.
Their spirit will send a soul to eternal damnation.
Because there's only Jesus, the Son of God, who can save us from
our sins.