Christmas 2012 Part 1

Matt.1:18 “This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about[a]: 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.”

The story of Jesus Christ is sandwiched between two miracles—a virgin’s womb and an empty tomb.

The former involved a miraculous conception; the latter a miraculous resurrection.

One cannot get near true Christianity without confronting these two miraculous claims.

Christianity stands on these two legs, and apart from the miraculous conception and resurrection there is no Christianity.

Now, I ask you today—do you believe in miracles?

You might say, “Yes, of course I do!”

Then I ask you, have you ever personally seen a miracle?

You might reply in general terms by saying, “Oh, I think all of life is a miracle.”

Or, “Yeah, I saw a miracle when the Cowboys won the super bowl—that was a miracle!”

But that’s not what the Bible means when it uses the word “miracle.”

A Bible miracle is when something happens that is contrary to natural law, something happens that would otherwise be impossible; something happens that defies natural explanation.

“Oh,” you say, “That kind of miracle. Sure, I believe in that kind of miracle.”

But now some of you are a little more uncertain.

By definition, that kind of miracle doesn’t happen every day.

When they do happen, they are very hard to believe—because they don’t happen very often and we can’t explain them.

Even in the Bible that kind of miracle is not an everyday occurrence.

The Virgin Birth is that kind of miracle!

When we speak of “the virgin birth,” we mean that Jesus Christ was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of his mother Mary, without the agency of a human father.

And while we speak of Jesus as “virgin born,” the actual miracle was not in His birth, but in the conception.

The angel said to Joseph, “that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.”

"Larry King, the one-time 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'."

History is filled with doubters of this miracle.

Some believe that the virgin birth may have been copied from a Roman fable.

Others teach that the virgin birth story is an allegory: “It is,” they claim, “a metaphor and is not intended to be interpreted literally.”

So how should an honest doubter approach the Bible’s claims on the virgin birth?

I believe that all God asks is that we be consistent with how we approach other issues that also seem fantastic.

He asks that we give the Christmas story the same treatment we give to any other story.

After all, you gave evolution a chance, though to this day it has never been proven!

To accept evolution, you had to take a leap of faith in order to believe that life came from non-life.

A big bang, we are told, blew up rocks that produced 1.4 million different complex life forms – fish, animals, insects, birds and human beings…

…all male and female and all reproducing after their own kind, as well as trees, incredible fruits, myriads of beautiful flowers, oxygen, the oceans, the four seasons and a million and one other wonderful things.”

Many of you accepted this though it’s un-provable.

Thus…every evolutionist believes in miracles!

So, if you’re a doubter, give the virgin birth the same chance you gave evolution!

And speaking of doubters, I have dealt with two kinds of doubters in the realm of spiritual truth.

The first kind were hard-core rationalists who said,

“I don’t believe it and there’s nothing that will make me believe it.”

I noted that these people enjoyed their doubt, talked about it, laughed about it, reveled in it, and got angry when they were refuted.

A person like that is not looking for answers; they’re looking for an argument.

But the second kind of doubter is the honest doubter who says, “I don’t believe but I’m willing to believe if I can see for myself.”

Thomas fit this category.

He was not an unbelieving skeptic; rather, he was a wounded believer.

His claim was, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

Eight days later Jesus obliged him.

The Lord never turns away an honest doubter.

And I have good news for you doubters:

In the history of the Christian church, the greatest doubters have often become the strongest believers.

It has been said that no truth is so strongly believed as that which you once doubted.

So, let’s explore three questions today surrounding the Virgin Birth:

How did the conception happen?

Why did Jesus need to be born of a virgin?

Why does that matter to me?

How did the impossible conception happen?

Mary wanted to know the same thing!

The Bible says that an Angel visited Mary to tell her of what was about to happen:

30 Then the angel said to her (oops! Another miracle—an angel!),

“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest;”—Luke 1:30-32

Flabbergasted, Mary answered:

34 “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”

Then the angel told her how the impossible conception would take place:

“And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.”—Luke 1:30-35

The impossible conception, said the angel, would be the direct work of the Holy Spirit.

Then he added, “The Power of the Highest will overshadow you…”

This means that the body of Jesus would be created by the direct power of God.

The impossible conception would take place suddenly, and the Holy Spirit himself would be the “Grand Operator.”

The “power,” δυναμις, the miracle-working power of the Most High would overshadow her to accomplish this purpose.

The word “overshadow” takes us back to the Spirit of God “brooding” over the face of the waters to bring forth life.—Genesis 1:2

“The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering, brooding over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be...” and the creation commenced.

Just prior to God creating the world, the Spirit is found brooding, hovering over the face of the deep.

This is the same idea with the Holy Spirit overshadowing Mary preceding the impossible conception!

The second question:

Why did Jesus need to be born of a virgin in the first place?

When Adam fell into sin, two things happened:

Sin was visited onto the whole human race.

The Bible says, “This is what happened: Sin came into the world by one man, Adam.”—Ro.5:12

“God told Adam he was guilty because of his sin and through this one man, (Adam) came sin and guilt.” (vs.16)

So, due to Adam’s sin, sin and guilt were imputed to the whole human race!

And with sin came death.

“Sin brought death with it. Death spread to all men because all have sinned.” (vs.12)

“Through Adam’s sin, death and condemnation came to all men. (vs.18)

The second thing that happened in Adam’s fall is:

Our nature was changed.

Not only was sin imputed to us, but we became sinners with our own fallen natures.

Listen to the Bible’s description of our true condition:

“There is not one person who is right with God. No, not even one! 11 There is not one who understands. There is not one who tries to find God.” 12 Everyone has turned away from God. They have all done wrong. Not one of them does what is good. No, not even one!”—Ro.3:10-12

Ouch!

So, when Adam fell—he being the head of the human race—we all fell with him, becoming guilty of sin through Adam and by becoming sinners ourselves with a fallen nature.

CATCH THIS!

The only way God could save us was by the sacrificial death of an “un-guilty” party.

But how could that be done?

Every man born was guilty!

The only solution was for the curse of Adam to be circumvented by someone being born that did not carry his guilt, or his fallen nature.

This would require someone being born totally disconnected from Adam’s bloodline.

The only way this could be accomplished was for this person to be conceived by an un-guilty party.

And the only party in the universe not guilty was God Himself!

So to circumvent Adam’s curse, the Father would have to be God.

Thus, God decreed the impossible, immaculate conception of Jesus Christ in the womb of Mary.

The Angel told Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come on you. The power of the Most High will cover you. The holy Child you give birth to will be called the Son of God.”

We stand on Holy Ground with the Christmas story!

My final question:

Why does this matter to you and me?

Because you and I must do something with our sin!

We are guilty before God!

We are condemned, stained by Adam’s sin and by our own, with our own fallen nature.

We will either die in our sins, or have our sins removed.

For that to happen, we must turn to Jesus, born of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit, Who died for us on the cross:

The Bible says, “There is salvation in no other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”—Acts 4:12

He is the only way out from under the condemnation of sin.

Good intentions can’t do it.

Other religious pathways can’t do it.

New Year’s resolutions, intense rehab, doing good things won’t wash your sin away.

He is the only way to forgiveness, and to a brand new nature:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”—2 Cor.5:17

Thank God for Jesus Christ and the impossible, immaculate conception that took place that we might be saved!

Related Media

Related Sermons