Christmas for the Skeptic (Part 2)

Introduction

This morning we looked at the truth of the virgin birth. Tonight I want to look at why the virgin birth is so important to the Christian. Couldn’t we just believe that Jesus was a good man or even a man that God came on for a time. This was the thinking of some of the earlier heretics in the Christian Church. They did not want to accept that Jesus could be both God and man; so they had to come up with some other explanation. Many lost people have a lesser image of God as well.

When fundamentalism first started one of the doctrines they fought for the most was this doctrine of the virgin birth. Why all the fighting though? Why is this so important? Can’t we just agree to disagree? There are some doctrines that we cannot agree to disagree because they are central to the Christian faith. A form of Christianity without this truth is not really Christianity at all. I’d like to give you four reasons why this doctrine is so important tonight.

God became a man

Luke 1:35 “And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”

This first point deals with who this Jesus actually is. Don’t you think it makes a world of a difference if Jesus was a man or God? If he was just a man, his teachings could be wrong. If he was just a man, how could he have saved anyone else? Can you save me from my sins? If he was just a man, how did he do all the miracles that he did? If he was just a man, then wouldn’t he have been blaspheming God when he claimed to be the Son of God and to be one with the Father? A whole lot of problems come up if Jesus was not God.

Some others proposed that Jesus was God but that he was not truly a man. He had a ghostlike phantom body that we just thought was real. Here again we come across some problems because a ghost cannot die. The bible teaches that Heb 9:22 “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.” There could be no forgiveness of our sins if Jesus did not have a physical body.

Christianity has always held that Jesus is fully God and fully man. Two natures in one person. In theological terms, we call this the hypostatic union. Hypostatic union sounds complicated. The word comes from the Greek word for person in Hebrews 1:3 “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;” The term means two natures joined in one person. As the Chalcedonian Creed states, his two natures are without confusion, without change, without division, and without separation.

In his humanity, Jesus relates to us and dies for us.

In his divinity, Jesus is perfect and sinless. God stepping into the world to rescue us.

That little baby lying in a manger was just like any other baby in one sense. He was human needing to be fed, changed, burped. He grew and learned to walk and later work in a carpenters shop. But in another sense he was something different, in that He was God. He didn’t sin against others the entire time he was growing up. There was no need for him to apologize for saying something harsh to anyone. There was no need for him to make up with his brothers and sisters after a fight. He was perfect. The virgin birth allowed for the union of God and man in one person. Secondly, the virgin birth preserved the sinlessness of Christ.

Sinlessness of Christ

The requirements for being human

Does Jesus human nature mean he had a sin nature? You have all heard the phrase to err is human to forgive divine. This statement isn’t 100% correct because humanity does not have to sin to be human. We all do, but that is not a condition of being human. Think back to the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve in the garden we completely good, perfect, sinless the way God created them. Even in their human state they had no sin. They weren’t God, but they were not sinners either. So sin is not a requirement of being human. Jesus is in fact the perfect human.

The problem is that sin is a characteristic of all fallen human beings now. Romans 5:18-19 “Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”Adam’s sin nature was passed down from generation to generation. We call this original sin. Because of that sin nature, we all sin.

Sin is passed down in some way through conception. Psalm 51:5 “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; And in sin did my mother conceive me.” Something involved in conception passes along our sin nature to us. Many theories have been proposed as to how this comes about but the bible does not clearly state how this occurs, but the virgin birth breaks the normal, natural connection between Adam and Jesus in such a way that Jesus did not inherit the sin nature from Adam as we all do.

Jesus’ sinlessness

Heb 4:15 “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”

Heb 7:25-27 “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.”

1 John 3:5 “And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.”

1 Peter 2:22-24 “Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”

2 Cor 5:21 “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

The virgin birth allowed Jesus to be both perfectly human, untainted by the sin of Adam and God at the same time. In guaranteeing Jesus’ sinless human nature by the virgin birth Jesus was able to redeem mankind, buy back from the slave markets of sin. If he had been tainted by Adam’s sin, this would not have been possible.

Gal 4:4-5 “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”

Jesus relates and understands the weakness of our humanity

There is another reason the virgin birth becomes so important: Jesu can relate to us in the weakness of our humanity. Jesus got tired, Jesus got hungry, to be honest Jesus got frustrated with people (now he didn’t sin in doing so), Jesus needed to sleep, Jesus faced temptations like we all do. In his humanity, Jesus shows us that He understands and cares about what we are going though. Heb 4:15 “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Part of His mission was to

1. Preach good news to the downtrodden

2. bind the broken hearted

3. to free those chained by the chains of addiction

4. to comfort those who mourn

5. to give beauty for ashes, joy for mourning, praise for heaviness

Isa 61:1-3 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; Because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, To give unto them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they might be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.”

Jesus understands the struggles that we face because he became human by the virgin birth.

Heb 2:10-11 “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,”

Jesus also understands our weakness to temptation. Jesus early on in his ministry was driven by the Holy Spirit into the desert. After 40 days, he was hungry, tired, ready for a good nights rest and Satan comes to him to tempt him. In that moment, Jesus was faced with the temptations we all face and he was in the worst physical place to refuse. He didn’t have the energy physically to fight another battle. He really would have liked some food after 40 days without food. After roughing it in the wilderness a nice padded throne would have been nice. But Jesus in his humanity showed us that temptation can be resisted and he taught us how to resist.

Matt 4:4 “But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

In his humanity Jesus resisted temptation to sin by reminding himself and Satan of God’s word. Did Jesus need to quote bible verses to get Satan to go away? Obviously not, as the sovereign God of the universe He could have said get thee behind me Satan and Satan would have obeyed. So I believe Jesus was setting an example for us for how to resist temptation in our humanity.

Conclusion

I tried to make this message a little shorter than normal since it is Christmas Eve, but to be honest, Christmas is a celebration of Jesus so we should not have a problem spending sometime talking about him tonight. It should encourage us that Jesus as God and man was perfectly sinless, paid the penalty for our sin; but as a believer Jesus empathizes with us in our humanity. He knows what it is like to suffer hard times. He knows what its like to have the waves of life beat us down. He knows what its like to be tempted to sin. And every moment of suffering is also a moment of temptation. He came to bind that which is broken. Find your strength in Him tonight and lets rest in his loving heart. Even if you do not face trials right now, it is a blessing to know that Jesus knows what its like to be a human.