The Virgin Birth Matthew 1:18-25 • The foundation of the Christmas story is the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. • It is not how or where He was born that is the Christmas Miracle. • It is how He was conceived. • I want to investigate three questions about the virgin birth this morning. • The answer to these three questions single Jesus Christ out as the only eligible and acceptable Mediator between God and Man. • John 14:6 – “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” • But why is that? • Let’s start at the beginning. I. Where did it all begin? • The story of Jesus did not begin in Matthew 1 or Luke 1 or with the virgin birth. • Many Christians and many children think that Jesus’ beginning was at His conception and birth just as our beginnings are. • The truth is that Jesus has always existed as The Son of God along with the Father and the Holy Spirit. • John 1:1-14 • Jesus is not God’s Son because He was born of a virgin. • He was born of a virgin because He is God’s Son! • Believing that Jesus’ beginning was not at His conception and birth, contributes to Jesus being God (deity in the flesh). • Matthew 1 and Luke 1 are not the first mention of Jesus’ coming through the virgin birth. • Genesis 3:15 – “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” • This verse is known as the protoevangelium – the first mentioning of the gospel. • The virgin birth is absolutely essential to the Gospel of Jesus Christ being the One and Only Savior! • In the NKJV, there is a capitol “S” on the 2nd Seed in Genesis 3:15. • This is a prophecy stating that Satan’s destruction will come from the Seed of Eve. • There has only been one human that has ever been born only through the seed of a woman – Jesus Christ. • The next prophecy is found in Isaiah 7:14 – “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” • There is debate among worldly and even some liberal Christian scholars about the fulfillment of this prophecy. • Some try to say it had immediate fulfillment with Ahaz’s wife having Hezekiah, or Isaiah’s wife having her son. • Matthew leaves no room for debate in Matthew 1:22-23 – “22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”” • The doctrine of the virgin birth of Jesus was widely accepted until the 19th century when it began being challenged as an attack on Christianity. • It was being attacked because it is foundational to the Christian faith. • It is what sets Jesus’ entrance into this world apart from all others. • When you start messing with the virgin birth, you mess with the divinity of Christ. • If you deny His supernatural birth, then what about His supernatural life, His supernatural death, and His supernatural resurrection? It all goes together. • Let’s investigate another question… II. Why a Virgin? • Jesus came to this earth to be the ultimate sacrifice for sin. • Matthew 1:21 – “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” • Jesus had to remain perfectly sinless in order to accomplish what He came to do. • All descendants of Adam, because of the fall, were conceived in sin. • Psalm 51:5 – “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.” • Jesus Christ is the only man that has ever been born into this world that was not a descendant of Adam, the seed of Man. • He is the Earthly Son of a Heavenly Father and the Heavenly Son of an earthly mother. • This makes Him a second Adam. • To be born of the first Adam brings sin and death. • To be born of the second Adam brings forgiveness and life. • Romans 5:12-19 • 1 Corinthians 15:20-23 • 1 Corinthians 15:45 – “And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.” • The reason Christ had to be born of a virgin is because He had to remain sinless, even in His conception. • If He had a human father, he would have been a descendant of Adam. If He was a descendant of Adam, He would have inherited a sin nature. If He had a sin nature, He couldn’t be an eligible Savior! • If He had any sin of His own, He could not be the ultimate acceptable sacrifice before God on our behalf. • He would not have been able to pay our penalty on the cross because He would have had His own penalty to pay. • 2 Corinthians 5:21 – “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” • One last question to investigate… III. Why a Human? • It is very clear why Jesus came to earth. • Matthew 1:21 – “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins” • Luke 19:10 – “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” • John 10:10 – “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” • 1 Timothy 1:15 – “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” • Jesus came to save humans from their sins and reconcile them to a Holy God! (A Rescue Mission) • He had to be able to represent both sides of the case to do so. • In order to represent mankind before God, He had to be a man. • In order to represent God before man, He had to be God. • He is the great Prophet & Priest!!! • He became a human so that He would be the God/Man Jesus the Christ. • Through the virgin birth, the Eternal Being that was 100% God was permanently united with 100% man. • Another reason: • Hebrews 9:22 – “And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.” • John 4:24 – “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” • God had to come in the form of a man so that he could bleed. • Ephesians 1:7 – “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” • Nobody has ever been conceived like Jesus. Nobody has ever lived a sinless life like Jesus. Nobody could die and pay someone else’s price like Jesus. Nobody arose from the grave like Jesus. Therefore Nobody qualifies to be the Savior like Jesus! • That also means Nobody deserves to be worshipped like Jesus!!! • John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” • Have you trusted in the only Qualified Savior? .