Born of A Virgin

0:52After finishing our Messy Church series last week, which covered 1st and 2 Corinthians, and reading and hearing Paul remind us over and over again to remember the gospel that was preached to the Corinthians and to us. So the pastors here at New Life agreed that we should take some time to remember our first love, Jesus. We should remember who he is and what he has done for us. It's easy for us to get lost in the motions of being a Christian.

1:26Many distractions come in and out. Of our lives. We can look at the last few years, and it's easy to get bogged down with all that is wrong with the world, the church, and even ourselves. I think that's why Paul repeatedly encourages Christians in nearly all of his epistles to remember Jesus and the gospel that was given to them. All of the churches that received a letter from Paul had some kind of distraction or issue that they were having to address.

2:03And even in his letters to Timothy, Paul instructs him not to be ashamed of the testimony of the Lord, but to be ready to give an explanation for his hope. So we're going to spend the next four weeks talking and reminding you and encouraging you and remembering who Jesus is and what he's done for us. And this week, we're going to be hearing about the virgin birth. We'll learn that the virgin birth proves to us that God always fulfills his promises, that salvation is a gift of grace, and the virgin birth is a reminder that our salvation has nothing to do with us, but is through God and God alone.

2:53In 2005, a book called Velvet Elvis, Repainting the Christian Faith. Faith made its way to the New York Times bestseller list. In the first chapter, the author wrote, and you can see this on the screen behind me. I apologize, this is a long quote, but it will be helpful. What if tomorrow someone digs up definitive proof that Jesus had a real, earthly biological father named Larry? And archaeologists find Larry's tomb and do DNA samples and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the virgin birth was really just a bit of mythologizing the gospel writers threw in to appeal to the followers of Mithra and Dionysian religious cults that were hugely popular at the time of Jesus, whose gods had virgin births.

3:52But what if, as you study the origin of the word virgin, you discover that the word virgin in the Gospel of Matthew actually comes from the book of Isaiah? And then you find out that in the Hebrew language, at that time, the word virgin could mean several things. Now, at the time that this was written, many people thought that this was a thoughtful approach to Christianity. And it may seem so at first glance. Bell's point here is that the virgin birth is not essential to the Christian faith.

4:32Now, this statement or this question posed as a statement is easy to dismantle with just a little bit of research and a little bit of sense. And in looking to answer the question of the meaning of the word virgin, I hope to help us understand the text of Isaiah this morning. First, let me address this quote: It is impossible to dig up something or someone that did not stay buried. You cannot find DNA from someone who rose from the dead and ascended to heaven.

5:16So, finding archaeological evidence is impossible because archaeologists study the remains that have been dug up and there were no remains. Second, though there were cults that worshiped Mithra and Dionysian, they did exist in Jesus' day, but they weren't popular among the Jewish people, which Matthew was written to the Jewish audience. Also, every serious scholar denies the idea of the virgin birth for both Mithra and Dionysus. Mithra, or in the Greek mythology, He's known as Perseus, is believed to be born from the union, the physical union between Zeus and Danae inside a cave.

6:13And so, myth claimed that he was born from a rock. And he was worshipped by Roman soldiers who were all male. Females were not allowed to worship Mithra. So, why would you appeal to them? Dionysus, also known as Bacchus, was from the union, the physical union, between Zeus and Simelee. Once Hera's wife, or Zeus's wife, Hera, found out about this, she became increasingly jealous, and she figured out a way to kill Sime, who was pregnant with Dionysus or Bacchus.

6:55And while she was dying, Zeus grabbed the fetus and sewed it into his thigh. And so, Dionysus or Bacchus was born from Zeus's thigh. And Bacchus is the god of fertility and wine. He's also the god that is represented on Fat Tuesday in the French quarter in New Orleans. Of course, both of these are myths. They belong in mythology. Christ does not. There's no real evidence. Historically, that these people existed. But the real point of this quote is to address the last point.

7:41Bell brings up the point that the word virgin, written in the Gospel of Matthew, comes from the book of Isaiah. And that word can mean several things. So let's look at our text this morning. Isaiah 7:10 through 15. Again, the Lord spoke to Ahaz: Ask a sign of the Lord your God, and let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, I will not put the Lord to the test.

8:16And he said, Hear then, O house of David, is it too little for you to weary men that you weary my God also? Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel. He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. Now we need some historical background here. Three years after Solomon died, Israel was divided into two: the southern kingdom known as Judah, and the northern kingdom, known as Israel.

9:00The time of Ahaz, Pekah, the king of Israel, and Rezin, the king of Syria, joined forces to protect themselves from the Assyrian forces. And they demanded that Ahaz, the king of Judah, join them or they would force him out and replace him with a puppet king. So, on one hand, you have King Ahaz, who is fearful that King Pekah and King Rezin will overrun him and replace him if he doesn't join them and fight against the Assyrians.

9:40And if he did join them and fight against the Assyrians, who were the biggest, baddest kids on the block, there was a really good chance that he would lose and he would lose his kingdom anyway. Or King Ahaz could join the Assyrian forces and fight against Peka and Rezin. But then he risked being conquered or paying tribute for the rest of his life to Assyria. But then entered Isaiah with the word of God. And the prophet Isaiah brings the word of God to Ahaz, and he tells him that there is a third choice.

10:31That is to renounce any alliance and any dependence on pagan nations and trust wholly on the Lord for victory and protection. And that's where we pick this up: with God telling Ahaz to ask for a sign. He says, Make it a big one. It can be as deep as Sheol or high as heaven. In other words, God is giving Ahaz a blank check. Imagine a blank check from the Creator of the universe. God's saying, I'm God. Ask me to show you, and I will. These Assyrians are nothing compared to me. Why would you align yourself with these petty kings rather than the king of kings?

11:28And Ahaz, in all his wisdom, refuses. He refused completely. He willfully disobeys God. With false humiliation, he rejects asking for a sign. He rejects God's word. And ultimately, his kingdom is forced to pay tribute to the Assyrian king long after his death. And the Assyrians came into Judah and placed their gods in the temple of God. God saw this and he knew it was going to happen. And he tells Ahaz through Isaiah: You won't ask for a sign, but I'll give you one anyway. And it's going to be a big one.

12:24And that sign will be this: that a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and you shall call his, and shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. Now, what we have to understand is many times in biblical prophecy, specifically Messianic prophecies, it has a type and a fulfillment. What I mean is it speaks to a fact that is acted out imperfectly in that specific space and time, in which it's given to illustrate some aspect of Christ's future coming and his future perfect fulfillment of that prophecy.

13:04So, in this passage, the Hebrew word for virgin is alma. And it could refer to a virgin who has a normal union with a man, but then is impregnated upon her first union, or it can be figurative, referring to a figurative virgin or nation, which wasn't abnormal. And in this specific time and space, that may have been so. Or there could have been a literal child born during this time in a natural way and was named Emmanuel.

13:40Listen to how Barry Webb describes how the prophecy was acted out in the time of Ahaz. If the young woman is Zion, then her son is the faithful remnant who will emerge from her suffering. That is why he has given the name Emmanuel, God with us. God will be with the faithful remnant who gather around Isaiah, not with the unbelieving Ahaz and the rebellious nation as a whole. Now, in the book of Isaiah, it was common to refer to Zion or Israel as a woman in various stages of her life. So this makes sense. And in a way, Bell is right.

14:25In the same way, other scholars believe that there was a literal child born in a natural way by the union of a man and a virgin woman, whose name was Emmanuel. And when he came of age, he knew right from wrong, and he spoke out against what Ahaz decided. He was a reminder that God would always be with them. So Bell is right that Alma could have different meetings, and it does. But he fails to mention that this is common. In biblical and messianic prophecy.

15:04So, when the writer of Matthew 123 claims that Jesus fulfills the prophecy from Isaiah, he is correct because he is doing so by stating that Jesus is the perfect fulfillment of that prophecy. Matthew is pointing out and showing the reader that the perfect fulfillment of this prophecy is Jesus. We see that God always fulfills his promises, even in ways that are better than we originally thought. And in that fulfillment of the word, fulfillment of prophecy and the word alma, which did refer to a virgin, in this specific case in Matthew, it referred to a virgin and emphasized her virginity at conception.

16:00God's word is always true. It is true in the specific time and place in which it's spoken, as well as into the future in a more perfect way. Now, I mentioned before that Matthew was written in a Jewish voice, in a Jewish perspective. And in this instance, it describes the birth of Jesus through the lens of Joseph. But in Luke, in Luke 1, you can turn there if you'd like. I want to read, I'm going to be talking from Luke 1:26 to 38, but I won't read the whole thing.

16:42Luke speaks to us from Mary's perspective. And Luke will show us that the virgin birth brings us salvation through the gift of grace. You'll see that the angel Gabriel comes to Mary and he speaks to Mary and tells her that she will conceive and give birth to a child, and he'll be the Son of the Most High. Now, obviously, Mary is a little confused. She needs some answers to some questions. First, how can this be, since I am a virgin?

17:20And Gabriel answers her and says, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. So we see in this passage that Jesus will not be born as a result of a natural union between a man and a woman, but rather conceived by the Holy Spirit. Now, some have said that Jesus was not born of a male and female because that would bring him under the curse of Adam. He would inherit the sin of Adam and therefore be condemned.

18:00But this would also imply that women do not inherit the sin of Adam. And Paul tells us clearly that Eve was deceived by the serpent and thus sinned as well. So, ladies, unfortunately, sin was also passed down to you. You can be wrong. I know it's true, hard to understand, but it's true. There is nothing special about being born of a woman. There's nothing special about Mary. She's just a woman who stands, who still falls under the federal headship of Adam, meaning that she inherited human depravity just like any other woman or man ever born.

18:41But we know that Jesus was able to conquer human depravity, though he was born of a woman. And we know that he was fully human and fully God. Let's look at what it says in Luke 1:35. Gabriel tells Mary that the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. When Scripture speaks of the Most High, it is speaking of the Trinitarian God I am. At the point of conception, you have God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, all there.

19:30This word overshadow is the same word used when Jesus was being baptized and he was overshadowed by cloud, and God the Father spoke into the crowd there and said, This is my Father, my Son, in whom I'm well pleased. So the whole Godhead is in unity at this point. So the power of the I am came upon Mary, who had no redeeming qualities. Yet God chose her to be the mother of God. So, you know, at Christmas time, we sing that song, Mary, Did You Know?

20:11She knew. She was told by an angel, one of the only two named angels in the Bible. This has got to be the silliest song I've ever heard. And my wife and my daughters hear it every Christmas. Every time it comes on the radio, I say, She knew! It's in the Bible. My point is, there were countless Jewish girls that were faithful and dedicated to God. Mary had absolutely nothing to offer. But God chose her to be the virgin mother, which the virgin birth would show us that Emmanuel, God with us, is a gift of God, not a gift of human accomplishment.

21:01Emmanuel is a gift of grace that leads us right to the right standing with God. Paul tells us in Romans 5:17, for if because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in the life through the one man Christ. We've seen that the virgin birth is a fulfillment of biblical prophecy in the most perfect way. And Luke shows us that God has given us a free gift of grace into righteousness through the virgin birth.

21:45But Luke also points out that it brings us to our last point: that this free gift has nothing to do with our own efforts. The virgin birth is, in fact, supernatural. There's nothing natural about it. Author the BDOBLE explains it this way. When God says the Holy Spirit will come upon you, Mary does not mean will come upon Mary. He does not mean that God impregnated Mary, as some slanderously believe of Christians. Come upon me brings to mind the Genesis 1:2, where the Holy Spirit was hovering over. The face of the deep in creation.

22:33Anya Bouile explains that the virgin birth is as much a miracle as the creation of the world. I know some of you are thinking, is he talking about the seventh? He really believes that. I used to believe that. But then a brother in Christ pointed out that it was six. That's what the Bible says. The virgin birth is as miraculous as the creation of the universe. Let that soak in for just a second. He overshadowed Mary with his power. And Jesus was conceived, being fully man and fully God.

23:31But what is more, he was fully and wholly sanctified, so that being born under the headship of Adam was able to break the curse of sin by living a perfect, obedient life to God. And in his perfect obedience, he went to the cross. He offered himself up as a penal substitute, meaning that he took Your sin, your wrongdoing upon himself. He served as a ransom for us, taking our sin and shame upon himself, and was nailed to the cross.

24:14This God man, who was born of a virgin, just as Scripture foretold, suffered the full wrath of God and died as a sinful person with our sin upon his head. He was buried. He was dead for three days. But God raised him on the third day. So when Jesus proclaimed on the cross that it is finished, we can have full faith that the sin of those who have faith in him come under his permanent sacrifice. Hebrews 7:26 through 27 says, For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily for his own sins, and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.

25:25There is no more that can be done. There is no more that needs to be done. And all of this begins with the virgin birth. The Son of God could have entered the world in any other way. It's possible. With God, all things are possible. But God remained true to his word. And as God describes this sign as being as deep as Sheol and as high as the heaven, this miracle of the virgin birth shows us that salvation belongs to God and it has nothing to do with us.

26:08Look at what David Platt writes. He says, Part of the purpose of the virgin birth of Jesus is to show us that salvation does not come from man, but from God. Salvation is wholly the work of a supernatural God, not the work of a natural man. There is nothing we can do to save ourselves from our sins, which is evident even in the way in which Jesus entered the world. King David recognized this when he was fleeing from his own son, who was trying to kill him. In Psalm 38, he says, Salvation belongs to the Lord. Your blessing be on your people.

26:51And one of the best scriptures in all of Scripture, in Revelation 7, we get this beautiful picture of every nation, all tribes, and all peoples, and languages. Standing before the throne of God and before Jesus the Lamb, proclaiming in unity, salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb. Salvation does not come from our confession, it does not come from our actions to God or to each other. What brings all peoples together is the understanding that we are all under the curse of sin, and salvation belongs to the one true God and to Him alone.

27:35Our salvation does not come from our government, it does not come from any recognized social theory or mandate, it does not come from a stimulus check or a vaccine. It doesn't come from wearing a mask or not wearing a mask. Our salvation comes from God through Jesus the Lamb of God, who came into humanity through the virgin birth. So, if you're here today and you're listening and you've never heard this before, you're at a crossroads. Nothing that you have done or can do will bring you into right standing with God.

28:26If you have not placed your faith In this God-man, Jesus, who was born of a virgin, and not repented of your sins, you are and will remain condemned in the sight of our Almighty God. But I want you to know that Jesus supernaturally came to you. He took all of your sin upon himself to the cross, so that you might stand in righteousness before God the Father. All you need to do is believe in him and confess with your mouth, and you will be saved.

29:13If you would like to do that today, grab a life group leader, grab your Christian friend, any one of the deacons, any one of the pastors, someone will be happy to talk to you about that. And if you're already a Christian, isn't it amazing how Jesus entered into humanity? Is it God mighty to save us, even through a virgin who had no special qualities over any other woman? This free gift of grace and righteousness is not a result of anything you have done.

30:02You don't come in here today having cleaned yourself up enough that God would accept you. It's only through Jesus and His birth, life, death, and resurrection that you're saved. So give thanks to God for this. And do as Paul said, and live a life worthy of this gospel. Live a life in full assurance that God lives up to his promises and that he gives us the gracious gift of righteousness through Jesus. And it's through God, not ourselves, that we are saved.

30:41Let's pray. Father, we proclaim that you are holy and righteous. We proclaim that salvation belongs to you and to you alone. We are amazed at the supernatural way in which the Son of God came to us through the virgin birth. We are grateful that you have given us the gift of righteousness through Jesus and that you always live up to your promises. Holy Spirit, we ask you to transform the hearts in this room. We ask that you speak to those that do not know this wonderful truth to cause them to believe in the Son of God and the work that He did on the cross that covers all our sins and gives us forgiveness and righteousness before God.

31:53We ask that you renew this gospel in our hearts and give us a hunger and passion to share this message to those around us. For you are our only hope. We're like Ahaz, and we are surrounded by enemies who wish to cause us harm. We have pandemics and financial problems, discord with one another, with ourselves. Help us to repent and come to you in faith and take hold of the salvation that only you can provide rather than taking salvation into our own hands like Ahaz did.

32:51We love you. Help us to love you more and to live in your love. We pray this in Jesus, who was born of the Virgin. In His name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.