If you turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 1 and Matthew chapter 1, keep a finger in both.
I might be reading this book, The Virgin Birth of Christ by Gresham Maitin, I will speak on it next year.
It's a brilliant work, it's nearly 100 years old. It's a brilliant work, it's pretty dry stuff.
Mary Maitin, who's Gresham's mother, wrote to him and said,
your book, Gresham, is not one to read when groggy with sleep.
Which is a great, when your mother is saying that about the book.
So don't rush on Amazon and buy it.
But actually I find it really, really helpful and what I want to try and do is condense this into 25 minutes.
And you will know that there's not an original bone in my body and so what is helpful, a lot of that comes from Gresham Maitin.
And we say those words, don't we, again and again and again.
Yet how often do we think, even at Christmas time, of that wonderful truth, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.
I want to begin by saying that the Bible sets the mission of Christ Jesus and his ministry in the world between two supernatural events, two supernatural bookends.
One supernatural event by which he entered into the world and the other by which he left it, his resurrection.
The first is his virgin conception, his supernatural birth.
And the second is his bodily resurrection and his ascension to the right hand of God.
Both are supernatural, aren't they?
In the way that he came and in the way that he left.
And both are given in fulfilment of prophecy.
So in Matthew chapter 1, it tells us this happened, that the scripture might be fulfilled.
And Matthew quotes Isaiah 7.
The virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and you shall call him Emmanuel, which means God with us.
The resurrection, the exit miracle, again it's the fulfilment of lots of Old Testament prophecies.
You could take Isaiah 53, verse 10.
He shall prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
And so both of these events, his resurrection and his ascension, and his virgin conception, carry with them, don't they, the same message.
The Lord Jesus Christ is not less than man, but he is certainly more than man.
They underline his supernatural nature, his deity.
The virgin birth is unambiguously supernatural.
You cannot misinterpret the virgin birth.
What you have to say tonight is either I believe it, or I don't believe it.
The virgin birth, it's thrust like a stumbling block.
Like a test.
Right at the beginning of the Gospels, Donal MacLeod says this,
The revelation of God has placed the stumbling block of the virgin birth to offend and to test us.
To ascertain whether we are prepared to do justice to Jesus' uniqueness,
and to the inability of human wisdom to know him,
and to the utter discontinuity between him and all else that could conceivably explain him.
Here at the right of the start of the Gospel,
God sets before us this biblical, attested truth that Jesus entered into the world by supernatural conception.
Three things tonight.
First of all, the biblical evidence for the virgin birth.
Does the Bible really teach this?
And then secondly, I want to talk just about some common objections to it.
And then thirdly, I want to talk about two implications and the relevance of it.
The biblical evidence.
It's in Matthew 1 and Luke 1.
And the two focuses of those genealogies,
and Ruben didn't do well in reading their list of names.
The first of them, Matthew, focuses on Joseph's story.
The second focuses on Mary's story.
They are separate and independent accounts,
and yet strikingly harmonious.
Most people think that Luke was closely allied to the Apostle Paul,
and much of Luke's theology comes from the Apostle Paul,
who calls him the beloved physician, the beloved doctor.
But it is significant.
The Luke, right at the start of his gospel,
if you look there in Luke 1, verse 1,
he's a careful historian.
Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative
of the things that have been accomplished among us,
just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word
have delivered them to us,
it seemed good to me,
also, having followed all things closely for some time past,
to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,
that you may have, what's the purpose of Luke's writing?
That you may have certainty concerning the things that have been taught.
And so the virgin birth is recorded as sober history.
He's a careful historian,
he's a qualified physician,
and Luke sets out the virgin birth as sober history.
The account Matthew gives us sets out the account of Joseph,
the heartache of Joseph in many ways.
He's betrothed to be married to Mary,
and she turns out to be with child before.
So if you go to Matthew 1, verse 18,
she's found to be with child before they come together.
And immediately Matthew says,
this conception was by the Holy Spirit,
verse 18.
It's important to realise, isn't it,
that betrothal is not the same as engagement.
Engagements can be broken,
but a betrothal could only be broken by a legal divorce.
And that's why we go on to read that Joseph comes to the conclusion, doesn't he,
that she has been unfaithful to him, Mary.
There's heartbreak there.
She was bound to him in the same way as a wife is to her husband,
and her husband Joseph,
being a just man,
unwilling to put out a shame,
he resolves to divorce her quietly.
He clearly thought, didn't he, Joseph,
that Mary had been unfaithful.
But to him then,
the angel of God appears to him
and interprets the situation in a completely different light.
Look at verse 20.
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.
Supernatural conception.
You'll notice, won't you,
that Jesus' birth is natural.
His conception is supernatural.
And the messenger of the Holy Spirit of God,
he interprets that as the Spirit of God at work
to fulfill the promise of Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14.
So verse 20 again,
Joseph, son of David,
do not fear,
so it marries her wife,
for that which is conceived in her
is from the Holy Spirit.
She will bear a son.
You shall call his name Jesus,
for he will save his people from their sins.
And all this took place,
why did it take place?
Verse 22,
to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet.
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Emmanuel.
Now, some people have suggested
that perhaps the word in Isaiah chapter 7,
and verse 14,
the word virgin,
it may mean young woman.
It doesn't strictly mean virgin.
But that actually isn't the case.
The overwhelming balance of probability of the word
is that it is,
the word is that of a virgin,
somebody who's not had sexual intercourse.
But for those of us who believe the Bible tonight,
when you come to Luke chapter 1,
what you discover is, again,
when the angel comes this time to Mary,
Mary is greatly troubled, isn't it,
in verse 30.
Can you see why?
I do not be afraid, Mary,
verse 30 of chapter 1,
Matthew chapter 1,
for you found favor with God,
and behold,
you will conceive in your womb
and bear a son,
and you'll call his name Jesus.
He'll be great,
he'll be called son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give to him
the throne of his father David.
He'll reign over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his kingdom there'll be no end.
That is the announcement
of the angel to Mary.
Now, can you see what Mary's response is?
This is the key thing.
Verse 23.
Verse 33.
And Mary said to the angel,
how will this be?
Since I'm a virgin.
She's saying, isn't she,
the reason why this is such a mystery
is I've never known a man.
I've never had that kind of union.
She's describing herself, isn't she,
in the clearest possible terms as a virgin.
And so whatever the ambiguities are
of Isaiah chapter 7,
there's no ambiguity in Mary's mind.
She says, I am a virgin.
So the New Testament sets these facts before us
and presents us a virgin birth.
It is an account, isn't it,
of supernatural conception.
The real issue that the virgin birth
presents us with is not a biological
or a philosophical issue.
It is an issue of the authority of the Bible.
If I live and think under the authority
of the Bible,
the virgin birth is a clear part
of the teaching of the Bible.
And I believe it.
And so you either accept the Scripture
or you do not accept the Scripture.
But you cannot deny that Scripture clearly teaches it.
So let's look, secondly,
at the common objections to this.
The first objection is it's a biological absurdity,
isn't it?
The virgin conception.
Of course it's an absurdity.
So,
is the resurrection of Jesus as well,
isn't it?
Biology is no more sympathetic
to a dead body being raised
than it is to a virgin conceiving.
And the problem people have is not with science,
but with the supernatural.
Do I believe the supernatural possibility
of God raising the dead?
Well, if I do,
then the virgin conception
is in the same category.
If God is able to enter
into the whole realm
of the working of his created order
and to produce such phenomenon,
miraculously bringing into being
the Lord Jesus Christ
in a virgin's womb.
It's a question of whether I'm willing,
again,
to believe the Scriptures.
The other objection is
that this makes Jesus
less than fully human.
It's more of a doctrinal objection,
isn't it?
You might say,
well,
it affirms his deity.
You might say the virgin birth
protects his godness.
The whole issue of the supernatural entry
of Jesus into the world.
And it protects his deity,
but it detracts from his humanity.
To be truly human,
doesn't Jesus have to be procreated
in exactly the same way as we are?
And the Bible's answer to that is no.
Why is it no?
It's no because Adam,
Adam was not formed as we are.
Adam was not formed as we are,
and yet he was truly human.
Adam was not procreated as we are,
and yet we acknowledge his full humanity.
And God has so ordered
that if Adam's creation was different to ours,
here the creation of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the last Adam,
the appearance of Jesus as a man,
was accomplished by a miracle
in the same way that Adam appeared.
Adam is the prototype
of one who has a supernatural origin.
Here's the third objection,
and I think the one I've probably heard most of.
The rest of the New Testament
scarcely mentions it.
The rest of the New Testament
scarcely mentions
the virgin conception.
It's here in Matthew 1 and Luke 1.
But the rest of the New Testament
is by and large
silent about the virgin birth of Jesus.
Matthew and Luke mention it at his birth,
which is, isn't it,
the natural place to talk about it,
but neither of them mention it again.
But that doesn't mean, does it,
that they regarded it as unimportant.
Its significance lies precisely
in the area as the entry miracle
by which Jesus came into the world.
And this argument from partial silence
is a really dangerous one
because you'll know that neither Mark nor John
say anything about Jesus' birth.
But does that mean that it's unimportant?
It simply means, doesn't it,
there's a focus and a concentration here.
Elsewhere, the virgin birth
was not a matter of controversy.
That is one of the reasons
that it doesn't occur
in the rest of the Bible.
But one of the very significant things
is that here,
by the time these books
are being written around 60 AD,
the virgin birth is being affirmed
by Luke,
who'd received his training
under the Apostle Paul.
And when you come to the early church,
the very earliest creeds of the church,
one of the primary things that is affirmed
is that the Lord Jesus was born
of the Virgin Mary.
So let me add here
that the deity of Jesus Christ
and his divine human nature
are revealed truths.
That is who Jesus was.
It's not a truth
to which the mind of men and women
have unaided access to.
It is a revealed truth
and God has revealed the truth
of the deity of the Lord Jesus
partly through the miracle
of the virgin birth.
He's saying that
in the virgin birth
there is a new beginning.
The living God
is beginning a new humanity
and he's beginning it
with one who is fully God
and fully man.
I think this is illustrated later on.
So Matthew chapter 16,
the issue of Peter's confession
in Caesarea Philippi.
Who do you say that I am,
Jesus says.
Who do you say that I am?
And they say,
well some say you're God's spokesman,
you're like a prophet.
Some say you're a holy man,
I'm like Elijah.
Others say various things.
But who do you say that I am,
Jesus says.
And here's the confession of faith
in Jesus as the son of God
and the Messiah.
You are the Christ,
the son of the living God.
And Jesus says to Simon Peter,
he says,
blessed Simon,
son of John,
because flesh and blood
has not revealed this to you,
but my father.
The revelation of Jesus
is in his person,
is supernaturally given.
And it is given to us
in part here
in the virgin conception
of Jesus.
And so you cannot defend
the virgin birth.
No one gives evangelistic talks
to students
defending the virgin birth,
do they?
But what do we do?
We proclaim it.
Here's the third thing.
First of all,
the biblical evidence.
Secondly,
the objections.
Thirdly,
what are the relevance to us?
Why is it relevant to us tonight?
First of all,
it's related to the sinlessness
of Jesus.
When Jesus came
to offer himself to God,
he offered himself
as the fulfillment
of the perfect Lamb of God.
Do you remember
John the Baptist
sees him behold
the Lamb of God?
He is a Lamb
and without spot
and without blemish.
He himself
bore no sin
so that he might
bear our sin.
He had no sin
of his own
to atone for
and so he was free
and able
to atone
for our sin.
The sinlessness
of Jesus
is so important.
The virgin birth
does not prove
the sinlessness
of Jesus
but it's certainly
related to it.
What the Bible teaches
is that we are not
isolated individuals.
Whether we like it
or not,
we belong to humanity.
We are members
of a union
and Adam
the first man
he is the head
of that union.
And the Bible teaches
that in Adam
all those who are
connected to Adam
are brought down
in our sin.
You watch,
well I hope you don't
watch Eurovision
but you watch Eurovision
isn't it?
And they will say
the different countries
go around voting
isn't it?
And they will say
Great Britain
gives,
I don't know,
six points.
and all of
Great Britain
is counted
by that one person's vote.
By that one person's vote.
They carry millions
of votes
in their one vote.
And Adam,
he is the head,
it is his vote,
he is the federal head
of the old order.
He is the head
of the old humanity
and he brought us down
by his act of rebellion
and we are involved
in that.
It's not just
the things we do,
it's what we are,
isn't it?
The twist in our nature
that all of us
know so well.
The crookedness,
the tendency
in our heart
that turns us
towards sin.
But what God
is doing here
in this new creation
is that God
has brought forth
the Lord Jesus Christ
and he calls him
1 Corinthians 15
the last Adam
to be the head
of a new humanity.
And so as in Adam
all die,
so in Christ
all are made alive.
And it is in union,
being connected,
trusting,
by faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ
that we find
newness of life now.
The line of sin
goes right through
the old order
until,
until the conception
and birth of Jesus.
And by setting aside
man as the procreator,
God is saying,
here is a new humanity.
Here is a new humanity
and the head
of that new humanity,
the Lord Jesus,
is offering himself
without spot to God.
The virgin conception
of the Lord Jesus
marks a break
in the transmission
of sin.
To be fully human,
Jesus was born
of a woman.
We saw it this morning,
Galatians 4,
didn't we?
Born of a woman,
born under the law
to be sinless
in his humanity.
He was born
of a virgin woman,
not a sinless woman,
but a virgin woman.
And so the virgin conception
helps us in
that it is related
to the sinlessness
of Jesus.
Jerry Packer says this,
in the virgin
born Christ,
in the virgin birth,
Christ did not inherit
the guilty twist
called original sin.
His manhood
was untainted
by it.
So it relates
to Jesus'
sinlessness.
Second thing is this,
the last thing is this,
it's related
to the saving
initiative of God.
It's related
to the saving
initiative of God.
It's God
who's acting here.
an ordinary
conception,
an ordinary birth
of Jesus,
if it was like
our conception
and birth,
would have meant
that the initiative
in Christ,
the saving
appearance
in the world,
lay with man.
man.
But here,
what is God
doing
in the virgin
birth?
What is God
doing in the virgin
birth?
He is setting
man aside.
He's doing it
resolutely
and he's doing it
deliberately.
He is putting
man aside
and saying
from that
line,
from the line
of Adam,
there is no hope
for man's
salvation.
And so he
brings by
supernatural means
the last Adam.
The last Adam
comes onto the
field as the
firstborn of the
new creation
and he sets
man aside.
and in his
place stands
the God
man,
Christ Jesus.
And that is
the message
of the virgin
birth.
What he's
saying in the
virgin conception
is that salvation
will never ever
flow from
man's initiative.
By searching
and by seeking,
you will never
by yourself
unaided
come to God.
By working
hard,
by laboring,
by attempts
to do things
that will
satisfy God,
you will never
find acceptance
with him.
And the virgin
conception and
supernatural
appearance of
Jesus Christ
tell us that
it is God
that takes
the initiative.
It is God
who has to
provide a
divine saviour.
Not a human
saviour,
but a divine
saviour,
the God
man.
One of the
messages,
surely,
is that you
will never
find salvation
from man,
but you
will find it
from the
God of the
Bible who
sent his
only begotten
son into
the world,
born of a
virgin,
to declare
that salvation
is all of
God.
And salvation
is all of
grace.
And salvation
is all in
Christ.
And that
is the
message of
Christianity,
isn't it?
Certainly the
message of
Christmas.
All of
God,
all of
grace,
all in
Christ.
And so the
choice that's
before every
single one of
us tonight,
the choice
that the
virgin
conception
presents you
with is
either a
Jesus who
is supernatural,
and sinless,
and God
saviour,
or a
Jesus who
is something
less,
and something
not.
Let's pray.
Amen.