The Virgin Birth

Matthew 1:18-25

May 23, 2010

Last week we began our study of Matthew’s gospel

And we did so by studying “The Genealogy of Jesus”

And as we said, because of the truth that Matthew sought to prove,

That was the only possible way that Matthew could begin his gospel.

Matthew is writing to reveal that Jesus is the king; the Messiah.

And therefore it would have been pointless for him to make such a claim

If he could not give genealogical proof to support it.

So Matthew opened his gospel account

By proving to you that Jesus has the right to the throne.

But Matthew isn’t finished with his apologetics just yet.

For those of you who like the field of apologetics,

Matthew’s gospel is right up your alley.

Apologetics is the discipline of defending a position

Through the systematic use of reason.

And that is what Matthew does.

He does far more than just proclaim the truths of Jesus,

Matthew also sets out to prove them true.

If you have ever sat down and simply read through Matthew’s gospel

Then hopefully you noticed that Matthew was especially enamored

With the manner in which Jesus fulfilled prophecy.

Throughout Matthew’s gospel, Matthew cites at least 28 references

To how Jesus’ life and ministry was the fulfillment of prophecy.

Matthew actually begins his gospel account with 7 fulfilled prophecies.

(1:22-23) “Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call his name Immanuel," which translated means, "God with us."

(2:4-6) “Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They said to him, " In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet: 'And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the leaders of Judah; for out of you shall come forth a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.'"

(2:14-15) “So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "Out of Egypt i called My Son."

(2:16-18) “Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi. Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: "A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; and she refused to be comforted, because they were no more."

(2:23) “and came and lived in a city called Nazareth. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets: "He shall be called a Nazarene."

In chapter 3:3 you get the prophecy of the forerunner – John the Baptist

In chapter 4:15-16 you get the prophecy of Jesus’ ministry

In fact Matthew is the only one that records the statement of Jesus:

Matthew 5:17 "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.”

And so it becomes blatantly obvious to us that

Matthew is setting out to defend the faith.

THIS MORNING HE FOCUSES ON THE VIRGIN BIRTH.

To prove He is king – prove His earthly lineage.

To prove He is God – prove His divine lineage.

Of all the major defining events of Jesus’ life

I don’t suppose any have been more perverted than this one.

Certainly there are those who attack His crucifixion, His burial,

His resurrection, or even His ascension, but it seems that

Not even those events get perverted like His virgin birth.

On one hand you have the skeptics who attack it.

Those who either claim that it is non-essential, or that it didn’t occur.

Both are absolutely wrong.

The virgin birth did occur (as Matthew will prove in a moment)

And it is essential.

1) The Virgin Birth proves the deity of Jesus

2) The Virgin Birth is essential to His saving ministry.

Allows Him to save since He is not the seed of Adam.

Romans 5:12-14 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned — for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.”

If Christ were born of a man, He also would be of Adam,

And would therefore be disqualified as the Savior of the world.

ON THE OTHER HAND, Heretics who Pervert it.

When you hear the term “Immaculate Conception”

You think about the birth of Jesus, but that is not what many mean.

The entire Catholic religion sees it not as the conception of Jesus,

But as the conception of Mary.

In 1854, Pope Pius IX issued his Ineffabilis Deus which states that Mary, not just Jesus, was conceived without any sin in absolute perfection.

“We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful.” (http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius09/p9ineff.htm)

Another perversion is Mary’s supposed state of perpetual virginity.

It was Pope Martin 1 who said, “Mary gave birth in miraculous fashion without any opening of her womb and injury to her body and without pain."

(http://www.gty.org/Resources/Sermons/90-315_Exposing-the-Idolatry-of-Mary-Worship-Catholic-Dogma-Part-1?q=heresy+of+mary+worship)

This is not only a doctrine denied and opposed,

But also a doctrine that has been extremely perverted.

The reason for both of these is of course Satan,

His aim is to keep you from believing that Jesus is the divine Son of God Or to shift your focus from Jesus to some other man-made doctrine.

So this morning we are here to not only affirm the virgin birth,

But also to listen to Matthew defend it.

So, just as last week we saw the human lineage of Jesus,

This morning we see the divine lineage of Jesus.

(18) “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows”

“birth” translates GENESIS which is the same Greek word

That we read in (1:1) which was translated “genealogy”.

So this again is the genealogy of Jesus,

Only it is now His divine genealogy, not His earthly one.

And as we study this passage, let me break this event down into 6 points.

#1 THE PROBLEM

Matthew 1:18

Any man who has ever been engaged understands Joseph’s problem.

“when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.”

Now of course Luke gives us a little more insight to the entire story.

Luke 1:26-38 “Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. "And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end." Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" The angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God. "And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. "For nothing will be impossible with God." And Mary said, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.”

And so obviously Mary was just as perplexed as the rest of us.

“How can this be, since I am a virgin?”

Now certainly there would have been issues for Mary to deal with

But imagine what Joseph must have had to deal with.

All of a sudden your fiancé shows up pregnant

And you know the child isn’t yours.

WHAT DO YOU DO?

Well, under Jewish Law it was clear.

Deuteronomy 22:23-24 "If there is a girl who is a virgin engaged to a man, and another man finds her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city and you shall stone them to death; the girl, because she did not cry out in the city, and the man, because he has violated his neighbor's wife. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you.”

And that was what Joseph was now up against.

Next we learn what Joseph planned to do about it.

#2 THE PLAN

Matthew 1:19

This is actually great proof by Matthew

That Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus.

HOW DO WE KNOW?

Because he “planned to send her away secretly.”

Scripture says that he was “a righteous man”

This means that he was not going to marry an adulterous woman.

But we also learn that he was a compassionate man because he did want “to disgrace her”

Those who want to disprove the virgin birth

Would have first set out to prove that Joseph was the father,

But her Matthew proves otherwise.

And by the way, it was public knowledge

That Joseph was not the father of Jesus.

In fact, years later when Jesus in the middle of one of His famous bouts with the Pharisees they actually bring this fact up as a way to shame Him.

John 8:41 "You are doing the deeds of your father." They said to Him, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father: God."

They were accusing Him to be the product of an act of fornication.

So even they knew that Joseph was not Jesus’ father.

And because Joseph knew it, he planned to send Mary away.

The Problem, The Plan

#3 THE PROOF

Matthew 1:20-21

Here we see that Joseph is already considering sending Mary away

Until God intervenes.

An angel of the Lord came to him and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

God proves what (no doubt) Mary had told Him.

That, although it is difficult to believe, Mary has not been unfaithful.

Mary has become pregnant by the Holy Spirit.

Now it no longer comes from the lips of Mary,

It has come from the messenger of God.

And furthermore God reveals to Joseph why this is happening.

#4 THE PURPOSE

Matthew 1:21

The purpose for all this is clear,

It is because this is how God will bring the Savior into the world.

Because Joseph was of Adam,

Joseph could not conceive the Savior, only God could,

And that is the explanation for this event.

“and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

I don’t want to chase any rabbits here, but as I studied this passage

This time, this was really the point that hit me in the face.

This statement is simple and straightforward,

But it has been so overwhelmingly perverted and disregarded.

The first disregarded statement is at the beginning.

“He will save”

In our day of pluralism, people no longer view Jesus as the Savior.

In fact the word “Savior” has become extremely outdated to our society.

Anyone can be a Savior, that is if you even think you need one.

Some don’t even see the need for a Savior at all.

But God did, and that is the purpose for the virgin birth.

He sent His Son to be that Savior.

And “He will save”

But that is not all that has been missed.

“He will save His people”

We also live in a world of growing universalism,

In which everyone is being saved.

And sadly many even believe that Jesus will do the saving.

Brian McClaren (Father of the emergent church movement) blatantly says that he thinks Jesus will someday save all religions.

“Although I don’t hope all Buddhists will become (cultural) Christians, I do hope all who feel so called will become Buddhist followers of Jesus; I believe they should be given that opportunity and invitation. I don’t hope all Jews or Hindus will become members of the Christian religion. But I do hope all who feel so called will become Jewish or Hindu followers of Jesus. Ultimately, I hope that Jesus will save Buddhism, Islam and every other religion, including the Christian religion, which often seems to need saving about as much as any other religion does.”

(Brian McLaren, A Generous Orthodoxy (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004), pg. 264)

That is universalism.

And it even creeps into Baptist life.

Let me give you a statement.

“Jesus died for the sins of every human being”

You probably believe that, because it has been fed to us for so many years, but in reality it is an early form of universalism.

If Jesus paid for the sins of everyone

Then everyone would be in heaven.

Let me say it backwards.

Jesus fully paid the sin debt of everyone in hell.

Jesus appeased the wrath of God on everyone in hell.

If that is so, then what exactly did He do on the cross?

Many would say, “He did pay for their sin, but they have to accept it.”

Sort of like the atonement is like one of those gift cards

You buy at LOWE’S that first has to be activated.

That is to say that what Jesus did on the cross

Was potential, but not actual.

“He potentially saved everyone, but He actually saved no one”

So on the cross Jesus should have said,

“It is started” or “It is possible”, not “It is finished”.

No, the reality is that Jesus paid for the sins of “His People”

He died for the elect.

And on the cross He ACTUALLY paid that debt,

And ACTUALLY appeased the wrath of God.

Isaiah 53:11-12 “As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.”

There is no universalism in the atonement of Christ.

“He will save His people” (not all people)

That means you must be His, if you are going to be saved by Him.

But that is still not the only perversion.

“He will save His people from their sins”

Some think it reads.

“He will save His people from hell.”

As though hell where the problem of mankind.

Hell wasn’t even created for man.

Hell was created for the devil and his angels.

Hell is not what is killing man, sin is what is killing man.

And the purpose of the atonement is to save people from sin.

He came to make wicked people into holy people.

He came to make sinful people into sanctified people.

Acts 3:19 "Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;”

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”

Jesus came to save people from sin.

But eventually that thought got corrupted.

And people no longer focused on holy living, simply on not going to hell.

And it produced a generation of church goers

Who no longer cared about the lingering sin in their lives,

It was enough to them that would not go to hell when they died.

Others still read even differently from that.

(Because society didn’t want to focus on hell either.)

“He came to save His people from suffering”

This arose out of a generation that sought prosperity,

And thought that Christians are entitled to health, wealth, and happiness.

And no longer was forgiveness the most sought after gift,

Now they sought “Abundant life”.

But listen, the statement is clear.

Jesus came to save “His people from their sin.”

He came to make a holy church, a spotless bride, a perfect people.

And so it is accurate to say that if you are still living in sin

Then you have not been saved,

Because it was sin that Christ came to save His people from.

The pregnancy of Mary was of God and it had a divine purpose.

Furthermore this was prophesied.

#5 THE PROPHECY

Matthew 1:22-23

Matthew is giving you yet another proof.

In case you find the virgin birth a little strange,

Matthew reveals that this had been God’s plan from the beginning.

God had said that a virgin would give birth

And that the baby would be God in the flesh.

John 1:14-18 “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testified about Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, ' He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.'" For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”

It would be the miracle of the incarnation.

God would become man.

And to further prove it to you,

God prophesied over 700 years before it happened.

There is one more piece of evidence.

#6 THE PERFORMANCE

Matthew 1:24-25

In other words, “Joseph’s decision”

What we learn there is that Joseph went ahead and married Mary anyway.

Now, if he wasn’t the father (as we already proved)

THEN WHY WOULD HE DO THAT?

Unless it was clear to him that no other man was the father either?

You see the fact that Joseph was going to send Mary away

Proves he was not the father, but the fact that

He ended up marrying her proves that no one else was either.

The only explanation is that the prophecy of Isaiah

Had finally come to pass.

The virgin had conceived.

And to further drive a nail in the point

We see the name that Joseph gave the baby.

“and he called His name Jesus.”

By obeying to name the child Jesus,

Joseph was revealing what he believed to be true.

And that is that this child really was conceived by God,

And He really is the savior God has promised.

Joseph’s performance is the final piece of proof Matthew puts forward.

· We know Joseph wasn’t the father because he was going to send Marry away.

· We know no one else was either because Joseph ended up marrying her.

· That taken with the prophecy of God about the virgin birth solidifies the truth.

JESUS WAS BORN OF A VIRGIN

Jesus really is the Son of God.

Matthew gave the first lineage to prove He was descendant of David;

Heir to the throne.

Matthew gives this second lineage to prove He is the Son of God;

The One who will “Save His people from their sins.”

NOT ONLY IS JESUS THE RIGHT KING

HE IS THE KING WHO CAME TO SAVE YOU FROM SIN.

Sin is the enemy.

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death…”

But Jesus came to save you from sin.

He came to give you the ability to turn from sin.

He came to give you the ability to be righteous before God.

Can you honestly say that Jesus has saved you from sin?

Jesus is God made flesh

And He came to save His people from their sins,

This morning submit to the King and be saved from yours.

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”