Why the Virgin Birth?

Why?

Why do we do certain things?

Why do we celebrate certain things?

Why?” isn’t always a bad question to ask.

It was Gwen and Ed’s first Christmas as husband and wife.

They didn’t have a whole lot of money.

Gwen was making her first Christmas dinner.

And with only a little money, this meal was extra special.

The day of the big dinner came.

Ed was watching his wife lovingly prepare the Christmas ham.

She prepared a glaze with brown sugar, raisins and cloves.

She put a bit of allspice and red peppers in it.

She whisked it all together, and let it warm on the stovetop.

She took the ham, cut off one end of the ham, tossed it out, and put the rest of the ham into a roasting pan.

She slowly poured the glaze over the ham until there were puddles of it pooling underneath it.

She roasted at 350 degrees for 2 and a half hours.

Ed watched this happen.

At the very beginning he was a little confused.

He watched his wife cut off one perfectly good end of the ham and throw it away, he was curious.

“Honey, why do you cut off part of the ham and throw it away? That looked perfectly good.”

Gwen answered, “I don’t know. My mother always did it that way, and it’s always been delicious.”

Gwen’s curiosity was pricked.

After the meal she called her mom and asked her the same question.

“Mom, why do you cut off the end of the ham and throw it away.”

Gwen’s mom gave a similar answer to the one she gave Ed, “Well sweetie, I am not sure. That’s how my mom always did it. It’s an old family recipe.”

Gwen’s mom now was equally curious, so she called her mom.

“Mom, why do we cut off the end of the ham when we roast it?”

Her mom was quiet for a moment, and then said, “I don’t know why you do it. When you were a child I did it once because my roasting pan was too small for the ham. Have you really been cutting off all that ham over the years?”

Generations of women throwing out perfectly good Christmas ham, because they never asked that one question that all children ask when they are told to do something by their mom, “Why?”

Why is not a bad question to ask.

Why do we do the things that we do?

Why do we celebrate the things that we do.

And at Christmas time there are plenty of these “Why” questions to be asked.

Childbirth is an usual thing.

There’s something truly different about it.

Why do we celebrate Christmas?

Everyone has experienced childbirth.

Why do we put special emphasis on a birth scene?

Why do we include the people that we do in a nativity?

After all, we are all born.

But everyone is different.

I come from a family of 7 children.

Why are there shepherds?

Some of us were born in hospitals.

Why are there wise men?

Why this baby?

A couple were born in the home.

And the question we will ask today is “Why the virgin birth?”

Some were born with medication.

It’s certainly an important question.

While others were born without

One of my siblings was born from C-Section.

It’s so important that in the early 4th century, the church had a creed, called the Apostles’ Creed.

Everyone is unique and different.

It served as a statement of what the church believed.

I don’t know if this is a generational thing, or just a weird Kirkendall thing, but my parents liked to document the birth of my brothers and sisters.

There are photo albums of children being born.

It was concise way of saying, “If you are a Christian, this is what Christians believe.”

In fact, when I was 7, I was there when one of my siblings was born.

And I remember, my dad in the labor room, complete with one of those old home video cameras.

It begins by saying, “I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.”

Huge.

So certainly, the early church thought it was important.

It sat upon his shoulder like a bazooka, filming every moment.

The thing is, no one wants to see those old photos.

I’ve never had anyone come to my house and say, Luke, let’s see the pictures of when you were born.

It wasn’t something that was debatable.

Yet, there is one childbirth that stands out.

It stands unique.

So today, we ask the question “Why?”

Why the virgin birth?

It is a scene that people want to see.

And there are 3 reasons for the Virgin Birth.

3 Reasons why it’s not debatable.

At Christmas time, we decorate our homes with this scene.

Which in turn is why, we celebrate the virgin birth at Christmas.

Some people collect these scenes.

If you have your Bibles, please open them up to .

Some even decorate their front yards in these scenes.

We will look at .

This of course is the nativity, the birth of Jesus.

Read Matthew 1:18-25.

There is no other birth in history, where people do this.

There are light up Joseph’s, in his pink robe, standing above a kneeling and also lit up Mary.

In front of the two of them is a small manger, with Jesus lying within it.

Have you ever stopped to ask the question, why?

That’s what we will be asking over these next 4 weeks, “Why?”

At Christmas time, Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus.

As I think about the nativity scene, there are different characters there.

Mary and Joseph.

The Shepherds.

The Wise men.

The baby.

It’s a part of our tradition, but rarely do we ask the reason, why?

Sometimes it’s good to ask that question.

3 Reasons For the Virgin Birth

Sin

The first reason for the Virgin Birth is because of sin.

Earlier this week, a Chinese scientist, claimed what is called a “CRISPR” baby had been born.

This is a form of gene editing, done to human beings.

It’s extremely controversial, because:

It’s experimenting on babies.

It’s experimenting on humans.

And it’s experimenting on human DNA, the blueprint for a person’s body.

And, since you are playing with human genes, it affects not just the babies being born, but if they live to become parents of their own, then it affects their children as well.

And their children’s children.

Playing with human genes can have far lasting affects that we don’t think about right now.

It affects future generations.

We aren’t sure what these affects can be.

They could be dangerous.

They could be deadly.

You are introducing an unknown variant into the human life.

In the same way that playing with a single human’s genetics can have a deadly and lasting influences on future generations, sin has had a lasting influence on all generations of mankind.

Back in Genesis, God told Adam he could eat from any tree in the Garden of Eden.

It was all his.

Except for the fruit from one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

I’m sure you know what happened.

Adam ate from the tree.

And with that one bite, sin entered into the gene pool of humanity.

Adam represented us.

And with that one bite sin entered into the pulse, the heartbeat, the blueprint of humanity.

says, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—”

When Adam sinned, we all sinned with him.

It’s what we are.

And we have confirmed this reality by our own sin.

Your sin is a hereditary trait, that you have inherited from your long distant father, Adam

Adam acted as our representative in the Garden.

And every child of Adam.

Every descendant of Adam since then, has passed on this sinful nature.

It’s in our blood so to speak.

I recently took one of those DNA tests to see where my ancestors came from.

I had to spit in this little tube.

A lot, a lot of spit.

It was then mailed back to their lab.

Where they inspected it.

I was able to see that my ancestors came primarily from:

The British Isles

Germany

And perhaps, I was most proud of hearing that .1% of my DNA came from Sub-Saharan Africa, Sudan to be exact.

The DNA people, guess that if you go back at least 7 generations back in my family, there is one distant relative that was from Sudan.

It’s amazing how that detail can be found in my spit, which contains my DNA.

So my parents don’t have to be from Sudan, but that detail continues to be passed on.

Sin is much the same; it continues to get passed on to each generation of mankind.

The stain of sin, is built into the human experience.

We are guilty, because our distant father, Adam, was guilty.

In a sense we were with him that day in the Garden.

And his fall, means all of us fell with him

We have confirmed this reality by our own sin.

Your sin is a hereditary trait, that you have inherited from your long distant father, Adam.

You lie, and it comes so easily.

Why is that?

Because you have inherited this sinful nature, this desire to sin.

You covet.

Why is that?

Because you have inherited this sinful nature, this desire to sin.

But Jesus is different.

The stain of sin is passed on to the next generation from the father.

When a baby is born, it’s fun to look at the features of the baby.

Some babies have their father’s eyes.

I have my father’s hairline … which is no hairline.

Each of us have our father’s desire to sin.

But Jesus is different.

He had no earthly father.

That record of sin is not found in Jesus.

Where Adam represented you and I.

Adam did not represent Jesus.

Not only does Jesus not have a record of sin, but He doesn’t have that sin nature.

My mom is an NICU nurse.

She works with babies who are very, very sick, or in extremely fragile conditions.

For a long time she worked at San Bernardino Community Hospital.

She would describe, these poor babies that were born into the world hooked on alcohol and drugs.

They came into the world with a greater tendency to be addicted to drugs.

That desire was in them.

You and I are born with a desire to sin.

But not Jesus.

He was tempted, like you and I.

But that desire to sin was never in Him.

The virgin birth means that only Jesus can go forward to be a substitute for your sin.

You need the virgin birth.

It’s not some romantic notion, or meaningless miracle, to cuten up the story of the birth of Jesus.

It is essential to your salvation.

You need a cure for your sin.

You need the guilt of Adam’s sin stripped from your account.

You need someone who never had Adam’s original sin in His blood or on His account.

That would be Jesus.

That’s the first reason why you need the virgin birth.

Another reason for the Virgin Birth is the Spirit, rather what it says about the Holy Spirit.

Think back to your wedding day.

Definitely one of the most stressful days in a young couple’s lives.

When I do premarital counseling, along the way we plan the day of the wedding.

I try and ask lots of detail questions.

When it comes to the service itself, nothing is left to chance or surprise.

I explain to the couple, everything that we are going to do.

I tell them that they don’t have to memorize any lines.

I’ll tell them what to say.

“Repeat after me ...”

I don’t want them stressed.

I tell them I will tell them what to do.

I even tell them what finger to put the wedding rings on.

Because when you are nervous, you forget these types of things.

I want them to enjoy the day.

But no matter how much planning we do … they are stressed.

The bride turns into bridezilla.

And the groom, he just turns into a bumbling fool.

They get nervous.

I remember one wedding, where the bride was about an hour and a half late.

What do you think the groom was thinking?

He thought she’d left him.

We all thought that.

Brides are never late to their own wedding.

Well here is Mary and Joseph.

They are betrothed to be married.

Within Jewish custom at the time there were 3 stages to marriage.

There was an engagement.

Then a betrothal.

And a consummation.

Once you make it to the betrothal, you can’t undo it.

It takes a divorce.

You can see the problem here.

Joseph is betrothed to Mary.

He’s as close to married as you can get.

She’s pregnant

Joseph is the groom near his wedding day.

He’s nervous.

Who is this woman he’s marrying?

Why is she pregnant?

The marriage has not been consummated yet.

These are worthy things to be nervous of.

Especially if the marriage hasn’t been consummated yet, there’s no reason for her to be pregnant.

In verse 20 it says, “But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”

“Do not fear...”

Those words aren’t uncommon words by angels.

Whenever they appear, they frequently say, “Do not fear ...”

Mostly because angels are frightening.

They aren’t like those weird naked boy angel cupid things that you see on stamps.

They aren’t like gorgeous Barbie dolls in the sky:

With flowing gowns and feathery wings.

The type of image that you put on top of your Christmas tree.

They are frightening, soldiers from God’s heavenly army.

So it makes sense that they would normally say, “Do not fear.”

But in this instance, the angel isn’t saying, “Don’t be afraid of me.”

He specifically is saying, “Don’t be afraid to marry Mary.”

The groom has cold feet.

She’s pregnant.

It’s not Joseph’s son in her womb.

But the angel comes to act as a marriage counselor in a time of crisis.

“Do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”

Mary hasn’t been unfaithful.

She’s been very faithful, and the child within her womb has been placed there supernaturally by the Holy Spirit Himself.

The 2nd member of the Trinity.

Since she is a virgin, there’s no logical way she could be pregnant.

This means that her pregnancy is a supernatural action, brought on by the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit brings life.

He is necessary for conversion.

When a person becomes a Christian, it’s the Holy Spirit who gives him a new life.

And the Holy Spirit brings physical life to the world.

He was part of creation.

Where there was no life in Mary’s womb … now there is life.

This is something to celebrate.

This pregnancy acts like an eclipse.

A solar eclipse happens when the sun is blocked by the moon.

There was one of these earlier this year I believe.

It’s funny, because the sun rises each and every day.

We don’t take a whole lot of notice to it.

But when an eclipse happens, everyone stares at the sun.

They get special glasses to look straight into the sun.

They make contraptions that look like periscopes so they can look straight at the sun.

People even pointed cameras to the sky to take pictures of it, not realizing that focusing on the sun like that fries the inside of your camera.

The sun’s always there, but the eclipse suddenly raises our attention to it.

We are drawn to it.

And we stare at it.

The virgin birth, the pregnancy of Mary, acts like an eclipse on the Holy Spirit who is eternal and has always been there.

Suddenly, our eyes are drawn to Him.

He gets our attention.

And we celebrate the life giving power of the Holy Spirit.

Two times in this passage we are drawn to this work of the Holy Spirit.

Verse 18, “she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.”

Verse 20, “for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”

All of this is impossible without Him.

says, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. ...”

The angel told Joseph, “Do not fear … it is the the Holy Spirit who has done this.”

We read of the virgin birth, and you can’t help but be in awe of it, because it is the work of the Holy Spirit.

This is the work of God on display.

And when God works:

You recognize it.

And you celebrate it.

There are festivities.

This is where the Christian challenge is.

Our culture gets caught up in the celebration.

We say Merry Christmas.

For this one season, Christianity is the norm, at least somewhat.

Remember the movie Home Alone, the birth of Christ is even in that movie.

On Christmas Eve, before the bad guys come, Kevin goes to church.

At Christmas, Christianity becomes a norm in our culture.

But we cannot just go through the motions.

We cannot just go through the motions.

We can’t mindlessly participate.

Or its a vanity.

Putting up a Christmas does not make a Christmas celebration.

Putting out a nativity scene, does not make a Christmas celebration.

God frequently rebuked Israel for their vain celebration.

Back in the Old Testament, Israel had some wild holidays.

They had good food.

They had cool tradition.

They had festive songs.

And you know what God said about all that?

In he said, “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.”

Bah - Humbug.

The original Scrooge.

Why?

Because it wasn’t sincere.

It was like putting out a nativity, without any thought to the events surrounding it.

It’s like saying Merry Christmas, but not caring about Christ.

This means that this holiday must be sincerely celebrated.

Don’t let Christmas only be about:

Tree shaped cookies.

Eggnog.

And ugly sweaters.

Take a special effort to remember the work of the Holy Spirit.

Like the eclipse that draws your eyes to the sun, this holiday draws our eyes to the work of the Spirit in bringing the life of Jesus Christ to this planet.

Reflect upon God’s work during your prayers.

As you are with your families, read the stories from the Gospels.

Take time during the day to reflect upon the humility of Christ in His humble birth.

The third reason for the virgin birth is it’s necessary for Salvation.

There’s an old Bill Gaither song, “There’s something about that name.”

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus; there’s just something about that name. Master, Savior, Jesus, like the fragrance after the rain; Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, let all Heaven and earth proclaim Kings and kingdoms will all pass away, But there’s something about that name. Kings and kingdoms will all pass away, But there’s something about that name.

The first line of the song says, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus; there’s just something about that name.”

It’s not that there is just something about that name.

There is something about that name.

The angel told Joseph, “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

That name means something.

It literally means, “He will save.”

At the time, Israel was under Roman occupation.

Caesar was in control of the area.

By the time Jesus was an adult, tensions were high in Jerusalem.

The people wanted their freedom.

There were even Jewish freedom fighters/terrorists, called zealots, who wanted to overthrow the Roman occupation.

And with Jesus, the hope was that He would save them from Rome.

But the goal of Jesus was not to save them from Rome.

Nor was it to save them from the Emperor.

He came with a purpose and it was to save his people from their sins.

We’ve mentioned that there was no earthly father, meaning that there was no inherited sin.

We have learned that He was conceived by the Holy Spirit.

Drawing our eyes to God on high.

But the child Himself, was someone special.

He will save His people.

This child has a specific people.

This child would be God in flesh.

Look at , “Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel”, then Matthew’s nice to translate that for us, “God with us.”

Now we see that this child:

Is born from a virgin.

Conceived by the Spirit.

Is God with us.

says, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”

But not only is He the image, but verse 19 says, “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,”

That cannot be spoken for any of us.

It would take a perfect man

This means that when Jesus came in the flesh, there was no attempting to save His people.

You and I make attempts.

Baseball players have batting averages, showing how often they succeed in their attempt at getting on base.

But Jesus does not attempt.

He accomplishes things.

His name means, “He will save.”

Why? Because He is God with us.

says, “Our God is in the heavens … He does all that He pleases.”

It doesn’t say, “He tries hard.”

But, “He does all that He pleases.”

In order for sins to be removed, it would take someone who:

Was already sinless.

Who’s very nature is pure and perfect.

Who could endure the temptations of life.

And since Jesus had no inherited sin, there was no guilt on Him.

No punishment that could come to Him.

Death would never strike Him.

But, this also meant that He alone could receive our sins.

The virgin birth, set Him up for being able to have our sins put on Him.

The virgin birth, meant that Jesus could die for our sins.

The song says, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus; there’s just something about that name.”

There’s more than just something about that name.

says, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

You have sinned.

And if you die with those sins undealt with, you will face the punishment for those sins..

We celebrate salvation coming to earth, because the Immanuel has come to earth, Jesus.

This is what our faith is.

The skeptics are wrong.

In recent years, it’s become popular to question key doctrines.

People ask is it necessary.

They ask “Why?”

Why the virgin birth?

Because if there is no virgin birth, then the baby had Adam’s sin on Him.

This would mean he’s not an acceptable sacrifice.

If there is no virgin birth, then this means He was not conceived by the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, he is not the fullness of the invisible God.

If there is no virgin birth, then there is no salvation.

And if there is no salvation, then you are still in your sins.

And therefore you are doomed.

Thankfully, we have the Bible.

says that all of it is God-breathed.

To the Christians that are here, continue to believe the Word of God.

Know that your faith is not in vain.

Knowing that it is true, have a Merry Christmas.

And may your celebration of Jesus continue even beyond this season.

To the nonChristians, I’ve tried to reason with you.

Know that the record of this child is glorious.

Believe Him to be who the Bible says He is.

K

And if He is who the Bible says He is, then submit to Him.

Obey Him.

Repent.

And may your Christmas wishes, not be in vain, but have purpose and power behind them.

Pray