[0:00] Take your Bibles, if you would, and turn with me to Isaiah chapter 7. Isaiah chapter 7 and verse 14 is, in my opinion, a very important, pivotal verse in the Bible.
[0:13] Isaiah chapter 7 and verse 14. It has two applications, and I'm a little bit afraid to preach to you tonight because, you know, like application here tonight is believe and know your God.
[0:28] Believe and know your God because you're not going to do any virgin birthing. It just ain't going to happen with none of you. But we ought to know this. This is considered to be a fundamental of the faith.
[0:40] It is an extremely important doctrine. It doesn't get covered a lot because it's not mentioned a lot, although you're probably going to get almost every mention of it. I think I left out a few, but you're going to get almost every mention of it tonight.
[0:54] This comes in chapter 7. Let me read verse 14, and then we'll talk briefly about chapter 7, and we're really going to hone in on the virgin birth because I think we ought to know that.
[1:04] If I were a missionary here and I were dealing with you, I'd be teaching you this truth. And I'm the pastor here, and I cannot assume that you know this truth or have looked at this truth like you ought to.
[1:15] And if it is a fundamental of the faith, which would mean basically you don't believe this, you're probably not really saved, then it ought to be discussed, and you ought to be able to see it from the Word of God. The Bible says in Isaiah 7 and 14, Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign.
[1:30] Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel. Father in heaven, I pray that you would help me to do justice to your great truth.
[1:41] I pray, God, that you'd give me a spiritual mind and spiritual voice to speak great truths, and I pray you'd help your people to have spiritual understanding and spiritual ears for a few minutes. And I pray, God, you'd help us to maybe take in some of the more deep things of the Word of God and make them real in our hearts.
[1:59] God, I know you are God, and I know salvation is all of you, and I know you're above and beyond all of nature, so you can do anything you want to do. And I know that, I know, God, that Jesus was not a carpenter's son, and Jesus was not just a regular Jewish person, somebody inflated to be this great man we love and worship, but he was God in human flesh.
[2:20] And we thank you for that and give you praise for it, and I pray, God, that you would help us tonight as we get a little understanding of that. In Jesus' precious name, amen. Now, I'm pretty sure most of you already know everything I know, and so that's the part that the heart is for me when I talk to you about these things.
[2:34] But let me kind of go over some things with you. In chapter 7, we'll start up in verse 4, if you would. The Bible says, Take heed and be quiet, fear not, neither be fainthearted.
[2:44] So the nation of Israel is in trouble. They're definitely in trouble. They're always in trouble. Judah's in trouble. Jerusalem's in trouble. God's people are in trouble. And their king, Ahaz, is playing politics instead of trusting God.
[2:57] He could have been a president of the United States. They play politics. They don't necessarily do what's right. Ahaz is afraid. He's got sideline things going with other kings so he can rule over his nation.
[3:08] And he's scared because these other two nations are threatening to come against him, against Judah, against his people, and they're threatening to come. And he needs to understand that the way you enjoy peace is by trusting God.
[3:23] So look if you would in verse 4. In verse 4, he's saying to him, Isaiah, tell him, Take heed, pay attention, be quiet, stop worrying, start getting all upset, stop being afraid, don't be fainthearted.
[3:34] I'm in charge and I'm going to take care of things. You could take that verse right there and go to the bank with it. You could go home with that right now tonight and know, which went along very well, I think, with what Trent said to you tonight from his psalm, we can trust God.
[3:49] We can get our eyes above the world we live in and we can look to him on his throne. In chapter 7 and verse 6, you'll underline in the Bible, they wanted to come down and set up a king of Judah.
[4:01] Let us go up against Judah, it says in verse 6, and we'll set up a king. But God said, I set up my own kings, you people don't set up kings. My country, my people, I'll set up kings, the king that I want to set up.
[4:13] And so God will win the victory. It is him, not you. He is going to take care of things. Look at chapter 7 and verse 7. Thus saith the Lord God, it shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.
[4:25] Calm down, Ahaz. God's got it under control. It may be threatening and you may see a lot of things going against you and you may think your life is in chaos and things are going to fall off the wagon.
[4:37] Things aren't going to work out, but God will do things. In Isaiah chapter 7 and verse 9, how much he would believe God would have great things to do with what would happen. Verse 9 says, if you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.
[4:50] If you don't do right, you don't trust God, you're not going to have the blessings that God gave you. Then the prophet says to Ahaz, why don't you ask God for a sign in verses 10 and 11. Let God show you he's going to do great things.
[5:01] And Ahaz tries to play spiritual and he says, I would never ask God for a sign. I know asking for a sign is not a good thing. He's not really genuine. He's not really right. But God gave the promise anyway to his people.
[5:13] And that's chapter 7 and verse 14. The Lord himself shall give you a sign. A virgin shall conceive. And she'll have a son and you will name him God with us.
[5:24] Emmanuel. You will name him God with us. So in the Old Testament, we've already talked about this in just a second. But as you read the Old Testament, you're going to have things that are stated and said. And they are for right then and there.
[5:35] There's an application in those people's lives. And that's what's going to happen. But at the same time, it's got a dual application. And something's going to happen way out there in the future. And the person living at that day and time might not have understood all that God was going to do.
[5:48] That he was talking here, but he's also talking there. And so when everybody heard Isaiah talking and saying, There's going to be a virgin that's going to have a baby and his name is going to be Emmanuel. Some people think it's even Isaiah's own kid he's talking about.
[6:01] But when he's 12, he'll be able to take over the leadership of the country. And he can bring the country back to God and get people to serve God. And so Isaiah said that to Ahaz. But the Holy Spirit's making another reference.
[6:12] Before I go there, look at chapter 7 and verse 15. Verse 16. He was going to set up a king that would know to refuse the evil and choose the good.
[6:26] And I'm going to stop right there just a second. Because we're going through the whole Bible. But can I just say to you, you've got to do that every day of your life. It bothers me that you would, as a born-again believer, choose to do what you know doesn't please God.
[6:39] It bothers me that you would say, I'm a born-again believer. I'm even in the ministry. And I teach a Sunday school class. I'm a missionary. I'm a pastor. And I will choose pornography.
[6:50] I will choose pornography. You are to refuse that which is evil and choose that which is good. Can I give an amen right there? And can I just say this? God doesn't make us sin. Let no man say when he is tempted, he is tempted of God.
[7:03] For God doesn't tempt anybody with evil. James chapter 1. You can go look that up here in just a minute. So he said, refuse the evil, choose the good. And that's what this new king would do. But Oahaz refuses to humble himself and obey God's will.
[7:15] So God will send judgment on them. The whole country is going to fall apart. And that's going to be stated in the rest of the chapter. But we know that this verse had double application.
[7:26] And I'm going to tell you how we know that. You ought not ever go to your Bible and say, I think this verse had an application for that day and time. And now it has it. You ought to have good reason to make a statement like that. But the Bible makes it very clear that, oh, he's talking in the book of Isaiah.
[7:40] And he's talking to Ahaz. God makes it very clear it had an application for the future. And that's found in the book of Matthew. That's found. It's going to be quoting just that. So let's talk about the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.
[7:53] I want to go through the virgin birth of Jesus Christ with you. I told Betty, I said, I just hope you halfway like the message. Because I know these technical messages you might not like. But if you just study the scripture and love Jesus and love him, you ought to know about him, amen?
[8:06] I mean, it's kind of like when you get to see your husband or your wife's baby pictures and there they are in the tub and they ain't got any clothes on and your mother-in-law saying, that's your spouse.
[8:18] We're going to find out about Jesus right here. He is the virgin born son of God. Isaiah 7, 14, Emmanuel will be born. Turn with me, if you would, to Matthew chapter 1 now.
[8:29] Go with me to Matthew chapter 1. I know that verse applies to the birth of Jesus Christ because the Holy Spirit of God said it did. So I have no question and no doubt that Jesus is being referred to in Isaiah chapter 7 and verse 14.
[8:47] So you should make a note beside Isaiah 7 and 14 of Matthew chapter 1 verses 18 to the end of the chapter. Look at what the Bible says. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise.
[8:58] When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Now that's virgin birth right there.
[9:08] If you've got your Bible open, before they came together, underline that, before they came together, before they ever had marital relations, before they had ever, they didn't commit adultery, they didn't commit fornication, they weren't doing any sin, and before that happened, they found out she was pregnant.
[9:23] That's weird. That's unusual. That's extremely unusual. They found out that she was with child. That's in verse 18. In verse 19, Joseph didn't want to embarrass her, and so he's going to put her away privately.
[9:36] But in verse 20, the angel of the Lord comes to him and says, What just happens, God? Look at your Bible in Matthew chapter 1 and verse 20. While he fought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, since Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
[9:57] Virgin birth message right there. It's of the Holy Ghost. This baby is not something Mary did wrong. It doesn't come from a sexual union. It is conceived, the child is conceived of the Holy Ghost.
[10:11] Verse 21. She shall bring forth a son, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Now, you're saying, well, why do you think Isaiah had something to do with it?
[10:22] Look at verse 22. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet. And now he says, this is Old Testament.
[10:33] I'm preaching Old Testament to you. Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Emmanuel, which interpreted as God with us.
[10:43] Right? Isaiah 7 and 14, right beside that verse. That is a quote of Isaiah chapter 7 and verse 14. Joseph wakes up in Matthew chapter 1 and verse 24, and he does what God told him to do.
[10:55] And in verse 25, he had no sexual relations with her. He had no marital relations with her until after the baby was born. Look at verse 25. And he knew her not, till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and she called his name, they called his name Jesus.
[11:14] If you have your Bible open, you should make a note there in verse 25. She's not a perpetual virgin. I'll mention that to you later. She's not a perpetual virgin.
[11:26] Whole doctrines spring up around a woman who God chose to bless, and let her be the door of entry for the Son of God into the earth that changes all about her story. But she wasn't a perpetual virgin.
[11:37] They had no relations until. Have you got your Bible open there? Till she had brought forth, knew her not. That means had no carnal relations with her till she brought forth the Son.
[11:48] Turn with me, if you would, to Luke chapter 1 and verse 28. Luke chapter 1 and verse 28. In Luke chapter 1 and verse 28, not only did Matthew explain to us about how Jesus was virgin born, Luke explains to us that Jesus was a virgin born, that he won't use that very phrase.
[12:04] In Luke chapter 1 and verse 28, the Bible said, The angel came in unto her and said, Hail thou that art highly favored. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. God's with you.
[12:15] He's chosen you, Mary. He's going to use you to do something big. He is blessing you. It's not like she earned it. God's blessing her. God's being good to her, and something's going to happen.
[12:26] In verse 29, she got scared. She was troubled. And she said, What in the world is happening? And in verse 30, the angel says, Fear not, Mary. Fear not, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
[12:38] God has chosen to do something really big with you, something you don't deserve. You know, none of us ever going to get used of God at all in our lives because we deserve it.
[12:49] None of us get to teach a class, preach in a place, instruct people, disciple people, raise up people because of who we are. It's because God's just been good to us. Amen. I don't deserve it, but God's been good to me.
[13:02] Look at verse 31. It says, And you shall conceive in your womb, and bring forth a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. In verse 32, he said, He shall be great.
[13:14] Not you shall be great, but this child shall be great, and he shall be called the son of the highest. Underline that. He's the son of the highest. He's the son of God.
[13:25] And the Lord, God shall give him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. And Mary immediately says, That can't happen.
[13:37] I can't get pregnant. I'm a virgin. I've never had relations. Look at her, if you would, in verse 34. How shall this be? See, and I know not a man.
[13:48] I've never been with a man. What you're saying to me, I don't know how that's going to happen. It doesn't make sense. It won't work that way, because I've never been with a man. And in verse 35, the angel said, The Holy Ghost shall come upon you, and the power of the highest shall overshadow you, and the holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
[14:09] So you need to look there in verse 35. It's a virgin birth. When we say virgin birth, we're not really talking about the birth when the baby comes out. We're talking about conception. We're talking about God giving, God impregnating her.
[14:23] God, however God did that, whatever he did to get her to have a baby, God did a miracle. If you would, go with me to Mark chapter 6 and verse 3. Mark chapter 6 and verse 3.
[14:34] This is just one of those, there's several verses like this. When Mark is writing it down, and Peter is kind of the guy that helps Mark write the Gospel of Mark. It's Mark's Gospel, but Peter's and Mark are big buddies, and Mark's kind of his disciple, and Mark's writing this book.
[14:50] And when Mark writes it down, he is really careful to make it clear Jesus was Mary's son and makes no mention of the daddy because the daddy is not really in this equation.
[15:01] Look if you would, Mark chapter 6 and verse 3. Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph and Judah and Simeon, and are not his sisters here with us?
[15:13] And they were offended at him. So she calls, Mark, when he writes it down, he calls him the son of Mary. You don't typically do that. You typically mention the dad.
[15:24] I don't have this in the message later on, so I want you to go ahead and look at it. You do notice that the son of Mary had brothers and sisters. Look if you would at Mark chapter 6 and verse 3. The son of Mary, the brother of, and he names his brothers and said, and he's still got sisters too.
[15:38] Mary wasn't a perpetual virgin. You may ask why I would make such an emphasis of that because all over the world, the largest Christian denomination worships a woman, venerates a woman, lifts a woman high, and acts like she did something, but she didn't do anything.
[15:53] It was God who did something, and it's Jesus that we worship. worship. Jesus' birth was so weird. Look if you would at John chapter 8 and verse 41. Everybody knew that Mary had that baby, and Jesus wasn't a legitimate son.
[16:12] They knew that there hadn't been enough time for Joseph and Mary to be together correctly, for that baby to be born. And so when they want to insult Jesus, Jesus, when they want to insult Jesus, they make this comment.
[16:26] So we know he is born of a virgin. Every one of the gospels in some way mentions it. Look at John 8, 41. You do the deeds of your father. And so the Pharisees reply to him and say, ho, ho, ho, we're not the ones born of fornication.
[16:40] We're not the ones that are born of fornication. You may say we don't do right, but at least we are legitimate kids. You ain't. Because Jesus' birth was, to say the least, very unusual.
[16:54] Now why is that important? Why is it important that Jesus be born of a virgin? Because we need to know, this is so, you know, I went to a college that denied the virgin birth.
[17:06] It was a college. It was supposed to be Christian. It was supposed to train me to go into ministry. And they mocked the virgin birth. They said Jesus was the son of a Roman soldier, most likely.
[17:18] They said anybody who would tell you that they were having a baby and never had marital relations, you'd know something was wrong. They're lying. So Jesus, that's a fable made up about him. But God wanted it in the Bible.
[17:31] God's made plenty of statements about it. So it must have been important. And it's much more than that. You and I need to know that Jesus is not a normal man that some apostles built up and made out to be our hero.
[17:44] This was not the apostles spinning it on Fox News after the fact. Jesus was and is God in human flesh. Look if you would at John 1, 14.
[17:56] John chapter 1 and verse 14. And we could stay in John 1, but we've already gone through this. You're the Sunday night crowd. You're the people that say the Bible. But in John chapter 1 and verse 14, what happened? When Jesus came to the earth was, and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
[18:12] And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So what happened when Jesus was born, what happened when Jesus was conceived, what happened when Jesus was in the womb, was that God in heaven, the word, John 1, 1, in the beginning was the word.
[18:34] And the word was with God. And the word was God. In the beginning was the word. Jesus didn't, he wasn't born after Mary. He existed before Mary.
[18:44] Can you understand that? It's a big deal. You know, I worked in a country that had Mary at the very top. I could take you right now and show you a painting so there's no questioning, no denying that what I'm about to say is try to show you the painting and they've got the creation.
[19:03] And there's God and Mary making people. She's all the way back then because she is, after all, in their opinion, the mother of God.
[19:14] I used to tell Provians, if she's the mother of God, that means she's bigger than God, older than God and stronger than God. She's more than God. She's not the mother of God. She's not the mother of God. Can I get an amen right there?
[19:26] See, Mary lived this 4,000 years after all of it started. And Jesus was 10 gazillion, bazillion years in the past. He's always been. He is God.
[19:36] He has no beginning and he has no end. He's God from there to there. He's always God. That's important. If he's not, he can't save you. If it's not all we've got, it's another Muhammad.
[19:50] If he's not all the Bible says about him, he's another religious figure. He's Gandhi. If he's not all this, he's not God. And he is God. The word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
[20:03] Jesus is God in human flesh, was God in human flesh. Look in your Bibles at John chapter one and verse 18, if you would. Jesus made the statement, no man has seen God at any time.
[20:17] No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten son, which is in the bosom of the father, he has declared him. So nobody's ever seen God the father.
[20:27] He's invisible. Nobody's ever seen God the father. But Jesus declares him. So when you see Jesus, you're seeing the father. And he makes this comment, just brashly.
[20:37] He says, nobody's ever seen him. Now look what he says, if you would, in John chapter 14 and verse nine. You got it? John chapter 14 and verse nine, he said this. Jesus said unto Philip, have I been with you so long time that you have not known me, Philip?
[20:51] He that has seen me, has seen the father. He that seen me, has seen the father. So how dare you say, show us the father.
[21:05] Jesus is God. That's a big deal. That is a very big deal. Jesus is the word become flesh.
[21:16] He existed before everything. He is, he becomes flesh. In John chapter one and verse 14, very shortly thereafter, he says, nobody's ever seen the father. Very shortly thereafter, he says, but if you see me, you've seen the father.
[21:27] Because he is God. And Isaiah chapter nine and verse six, I wish you'd mark this one. We'll get there again in about a week or two. This week, within this week, you'll see this verse, Lord willing.
[21:40] Isaiah nine, six says, for unto us, a child is born. You know, this is used every Christmas. Unto us, a son is given. And the government, a child is born. Well, that happens all the time.
[21:51] What's the big deal? It's being a son being given to us. And the government shall be on his shoulders. And he shall be called the, and his name shall be called wonderful counselor, the mighty God.
[22:02] You need to underline that in Isaiah chapter nine, verse six. This son is wonderful. He's counselor, but you need to underline this. He is the mighty God. You need to underline it.
[22:13] And the son is the mighty God. God. Jesus is not some mere human prophet. He's not some exalted human prophet that goes around talking about God.
[22:24] He is the word who wasn't from the very beginning, who becomes flesh and lives among us and declares the father. He is the mighty God. He is the everlasting father. What a name.
[22:35] A son is given and his name is everlasting father. I don't know if we pay attention to that at Christmas. We quote that verse, his name's everlasting father.
[22:46] The one who made us, the one who owns us became flesh, the prince of peace. When he came to this earth, he came to this earth to give us life.
[22:59] In John chapter 10 and verse 10, I am come that they might have life and have it more abundantly. Jesus came because we sinned. Jesus came because we were going to die.
[23:09] We're his creation. We rebelled against him. We brought all the consequences of sin on our lives. And Jesus came to earth and became man, took upon himself man because he loved us and wanted to give us life.
[23:22] John chapter three and verse 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Jesus came to give us everlasting life. Jesus came to be a satisfactory substitute for our sins.
[23:38] He should write that down. A satisfactory substitute for our sins. The wages of sins, death, Austin, you deserve to die and go to hell. Who in the world can get you out of going to hell? Why do you think things could be right?
[23:51] Normal, normal human religion says, walk on your knees from here to the Virgin of Guadalupe. Normal human religion says, throw your baby to the crocodiles in a river. Normal human religion says, pay and do and you can be forgiven.
[24:04] But instead of that, the God of heaven became flesh and lived among us and died so we could be saved. It's all about how great our God is. The Bible says in first John chapter four and verse 10, here in his love, not that we loved God, but he loved us.
[24:22] And he sent his son to be a, the propitiation for our sins. He sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.
[24:34] At virgin birth, Jesus is God and Jesus is man. He's all God and he's all man. You say, how's that work? I don't know. That's my best answer.
[24:46] He's all man and he's all God. He needed to be man to die for our sins. He needed to be God to have the power to do what he's going to do. He is the son of God. He's the son of man. He had to be the sinless man to die for us.
[24:57] He had to be worthy to pay our sin debt. The virgin birth is like a key part of this because Jesus is God. I want you to look at Philippians chapter two and verse five.
[25:07] And I know I'm running you all over the Bible. Isaiah 2.14 simply says, the virgin will bring forth a son and his name will be called God with us. I mean, when you look at Emmanuel, when you look at him, it's God with us.
[25:19] That's what it means. The book of Matthew told that clearly. Here's a picture of how it happened in Philippians chapter two and verse five. Let this man mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
[25:31] Now listen to what the verses say, who being in the form of God, he was in the form of God. In the beginning was the word. Word was with God. The word, he was already existing.
[25:43] He was in the form of God and he was equal with God in the form of God and equal with God. But he made himself in verse seven of no reputation.
[25:53] So he stood up and took off his robes of being the great God of heaven and made himself of no reputation, took upon himself the form of a servant and was made like a man.
[26:05] Likeness of man, men. Verse eight, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And that's why God in verse nine has highly exalted him and given him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth.
[26:29] And every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the father. People say, well, it's not possible.
[26:40] How can a virgin have a baby? How can God create a world in six days? I mean, let's just be honest. God is above nature. He owns nature.
[26:52] He owns us. He owns the planet. When it comes down to talking about our stewardship and how we ought to give and how we ought to pray and how we ought to worship him, we're like, I don't know if I want to do that for God. But if you just realize, he owns us.
[27:06] We live in his hands. Our breath comes from him. My heartbeat doesn't come from doctors. It comes from the God of heaven who gives it to me. It changes everything. When you realize you serve a God bigger than all of creation, he looks at the earth and says, that's like an ottoman for me at the end of my chair.
[27:22] I'll just throw my feet up on it. He says, I dug out the Grand Canyon with my finger. I'm God. He ought to be worshiped that way, man. It'll change everything about us when we realize that.
[27:34] What's it mean when you reject the virgin birth? What? Well, it'd be rejecting what the Bible clearly says. The very first thing I'd say to you is if you say Jesus wasn't born of a virgin, he wasn't conceived miraculously, you've denied all the verses I've read tonight.
[27:48] If you deny those verses, you probably want to deny all the miracles. When I was in college, and they were mocking Jesus, and that's why I became an independent Baptist. And they were mocking Jesus and saying he was the bastard son of a Roman soldier, and I couldn't take that very much.
[28:05] And when they were saying that, they used to say that all the miracles were fabrications. They said, when the Bible makes sense, then believe it. When it makes no sense, it's nonsense. And all miracles are nonsense.
[28:17] I can't accept that. If God said it, I'm settled. That's it. I believe it. It means that you think Jesus was just a man elevated by his followers and not God in human flesh.
[28:28] We didn't come here today. You certainly didn't come to listen to me. I mean, let's be blunt honest. There are lots of great preachers and speakers out there.
[28:39] Without a doubt, Joel Osteen has to be one of the best speakers in the world. Good night. Fills up stadiums. Go listen to him. You're just looking for a man. We came here because we want to talk about him. Because we believe he is God in human flesh.
[28:52] And we don't reject that. That's why you sit in a Sunday school class, and know you don't have any great teachers. You just have teachers talking to you about the great one. We're not the great ones. We talk about the great one. If you reject that Jesus was supernatural, then what do you think about your salvation?
[29:05] It's supernatural. It turns into something you do, and not what Jesus did on the cross of Calvary. Let me give you a few things to be understood by the virgin birth.
[29:16] The birth of Jesus wasn't strange. Jesus was born like any other baby. The big church that promotes the Virgin Mary and her immaculate conception and her being worshipped believes that Jesus was born by a Caesarean, a miraculous Caesarean, so that the hymen wasn't broken, so that Mary could become a, would continue to be a virgin for all eternity.
[29:43] Strictly, simply not anywhere in the Scripture. Somebody had to make that up. Somebody had to sit around and convolute some stupid idea to make a woman out to be more than she was. It's Jesus.
[29:55] What's strange about it is the way he was conceived. That was miraculous. There was no human intervention. It was a miracle. Mary was not a perpetual virgin.
[30:09] Mary was not a perpetual virgin. I'd like to remind you of Matthew 1.25 that we already looked at. I've got three minutes. I'm going to finish, but watch quick. He knew her not till she brought forth her firstborn son.
[30:23] Joseph and Mary will have a normal marital life and have children, child after child after child. You've got their names in there. In Peru, often they would say, you can't say that.
[30:36] That's not in the Bible. Catholic Bible doesn't say that. I'd say, read it to me. And they'd read it. And I'd say, what did they say? And they said, he had brothers and sisters. I said, what do you reckon that means? They said, whatever's a note here. It says, brothers and sisters don't mean and brothers don't mean it's cousin.
[30:47] I said, now which one's in the Bible? And they'd say, well, you've got to say it. Brothers and sisters is the word. Mary had children. Jesus had half brothers and sisters.
[30:59] He had James and Joseph and Judah and Simeon. That's four brothers and him's five kids. I mean, this could have been the Myers family. And sisters. He had five boys and several girls.
[31:10] Sisters, at least two. So there's at least seven kids in that family. She's a normal mama, except for one child that was born miraculously. Maybe you question whether or not God can let a woman get pregnant with no man.
[31:25] And in Luke chapter one, in verse 37, Luke wrote this under inspiration of the Holy Spirit. For with God, nothing shall be impossible. God doesn't work according to our laws. He made us in the laws of nature.
[31:37] He lives and rules from without and above. Remember this. Jesus existed before his mother. I was born in 1954.
[31:49] My mother was born in 1935. Jesus was born roughly 2,000 years ago with a human body, but he existed one gazillion, bazillion years before he was ever born. Because all was happening at the Virgin.
[32:01] That Mary conceived was God taking on human flesh. So where does all that leave us? You either humble yourself and believe God, or you act like Ahaz and say, I don't believe God, and you will suffer the consequences of your sin.
[32:15] You're either going to believe that God has it all under control, and God is the one who saves us, and God is the one who makes a difference. You're either going to believe that, or you will pay for your own sins. You recognize that you are creation, and you recognize your creator, or you lift yourself up in pride, and you become the supreme one who makes decisions.
[32:37] Human beings, the world today is like, I don't believe any of that, and I get to choose what's right and wrong. If you're a Bible believer, what you're saying is, I don't get to choose what's right and wrong. I don't even get to choose what I believe. I mean, when you're a Bible believer, you know what you're saying?
[32:50] No, I'm just a created thing. I was created by the God of heaven. I don't get to make decisions. I don't have a right to decide what's right or wrong about that. If they come out with a new rule about marriage tomorrow, we'll be like, well, I wish we could believe that, but we're not allowed to.
[33:00] We follow a book, a book written by God, a God who came into this earth and died on a cross for us, and we'll keep on following that. Can I get an amen right there? You must realize you sinned against God, but he loved you, and he came to earth as a human, and he lived among us, and he died, and he gained our salvation.
[33:19] So believe the Bible, trust God. Believe the Bible and trust. Trust that Jesus is, was God in human flesh. The virgin birth is so clear.
[33:32] I read commentary after commentary, studying this just to see what everybody said, and it's amazing how dumb smart people are. I mean, people that write books, I don't know. I think they lost their brain.
[33:42] They kept saying, how did this happen? And how do we know? How did anybody know Mary was a virgin? Did Mary tell people, or how did they figure it out? And I'm sitting there going, I'm just a dumb Tennessee hillbilly. I know how they found out.
[33:53] Holy Spirit told them. He did it. He wrote it. It's not that hard to understand. They're all like, you reckon Mary told the other kids, the other kids. Mary said to the other kids, you know, Joseph's not really Jesus' daddy.
[34:04] I was a virgin. I didn't have relations with him to get to. I don't. Come on. They wrote chapters on that. I'm like, don't be a bird brain. The Bible's pretty clear.
[34:17] The Bible says, behold, a virgin shall conceive, and she shall bring forth a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel, God with us. It's a wonderful thing to know this, that the great God of heaven loved me and you enough that he came into his own creation, and he humbled himself enough to be one of us and to let our kind kill him, bury him, and then come to life and save us.
[34:45] He has saved us from our sins. He came here. That's how I can go to him. I wish I had time. We looked at it in my Sunday school class this morning. He came to get us to take him to him. We couldn't ever get thrown on our own.
[34:56] It was him.