I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. Welcome to our third video in our Apostles Creed series. And this time we're looking especially at those lines, God the Father's only son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. To think about that, of course, the central text that we go to as believers who accept that the Bible is the word of God, we look first and foremost at Luke chapter one. And we read there, beginning in verse 26. Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And having come in, and the angel said to her, rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women. But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. When the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the son of the highest, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.' Then Mary said to the angel, How can this be, since I do not know a man? And the angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you. Therefore also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. There you have it. God's Word clearly presenting us with the fact that God the Son, born by the conception of the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary. This is not only presented to us in that one text, though. we have it presented to us on multiple occasions as how Jesus viewed himself. One of them is just one chapter over in the book of Luke. Luke chapter 2, verse 49, Jesus is confronted by Mary and Joseph, his adopted father, about why he hasn't been more considerate in their minds about them. And his response is, don't you know that I must be about my father's work? They don't understand it at the time. But what confuses them at the time is that they understand that it's not the work that Joseph does as a living. He's speaking of God the Father, and he's explaining that God the Father has a higher priority on him than anything else. Now, as a result of that obedience to God the Father, he then submits himself to Mary, his mother, and Joseph, his adopted father. Well, it's not only how Jesus viewed himself, it's also how God the Father views Jesus. And you can look at this just one further chapter into Luke. Luke chapter 3, verse 22. As the Holy Spirit comes upon Jesus at the time of his baptism, the voice of God the Father speaks from heaven, this is my son. And then later in Luke, in Luke chapter 9 verse 35, the Father says, God the Father views Christ as his only begotten Son. Jesus Christ views himself as God the Son come in the flesh, Son of the Father, and the Holy Spirit is the one who brings it about. Now that's what we read there in Luke 1. We read that God the Spirit would conceive and bring this about. And in essence, we see Mary asking, she's not a stupid, ignorant, old, ancient girl with no education. She understands biology. So she asks, how is it going to happen? How can it be? Her mind is thinking, perhaps, virgins don't conceive. So do I need to stop being a virgin? Do I need to rush along this marriage and get married and Joseph and I will have a baby? And the angel of the Lord says, no. He says, God can make all things possible. Hear what Dale Ralph Davis has to say in his recent commentary on the book of Luke. Considering these words, he writes, so Mary asked about the biology of all of this. Her query arose because she knew the facts of life. She was having no sexual relations with a husband, so how will this conception occur? Notice the restraint in Gabriel's answer. The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. This conception would be a supernatural deed. Normal human agency would not be involved. The powerful presence of God would bring it about, but there are no details, no precise explanation of the how. Sometimes God draws a veil of mystery over his work. Let me read that again. Sometimes God draws a veil of mystery over his work, and we are to be content with that. Sorry for my stuttering there. Sometimes God draws a veil of mystery over certain things, but he tells us enough that we must be content with what he has told us. And he has told us that the virgin conceived, not by the work of man, but by the work of the Holy Spirit, so that the baby born is God the Son come in the flesh. Astonishing, and essential to the creeds of the Christian Church. Why? Because God has told us that it was so. We cannot say we are Christian and then reject what Jesus believed about himself, what the Father declared openly about Jesus and what the Holy Spirit accomplished in the Virgin. We must accept it, but we also must accept it for theological reasons. Why is it important for us to confess that Jesus is both the Son of God the only begotten Son of God and truly born of the Virgin Mary. Why is this essential? Let me just overly summarize it, abridge it down to two texts that speak of the importance of the theology of the virgin birth. First, it matters, the virgin birth matters, because Christ had to be sinless. Notice what is told to us in the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 4, we read the following. Hebrews chapter 4, verse 15, we read, For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain and find grace to help in time of need. I'm sorry, I just noticed someone stuck a sticker to me. Hopefully that wasn't too distracting earlier in the video. Hebrews 4, 15 is telling us that it had to be a virgin birth of God the Son because we need a sinless Savior. And since the fall in the garden, all humanity have fallen into sin. The Scriptures make clear we are born in sin and we commit sin. None of us is guiltless there. And so the Savior has to be one who is man so he can save us, but at the same time sinless. And that requires a miracle. And the miracle is to cut out the natural order of things and for a virgin to conceive. But because of this, if we confess the virgin birth, we can confess the sinless nature of Jesus Christ, God and man, in one person, two natures. And because of that, we can come boldly to the throne of grace. He had to be sinless to atone for our sin. And then secondly, it matters because he is the only begotten son of God. If he was not born of a virgin, then there would be one who is begotten of a man, even a good man like Joseph. But what we find in Christ is the only begotten Son of God, and we need Him to be the only begotten Son of God, because the Son of God, the only begotten, is the one who brings about our adoption Notice how Galatians talks of this. In Galatians chapter 4, we read the following. beginning in verse four. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive the adoption of sons. So that we might receive the adoption of sons. He's the only begotten. And God accomplished this miracle in a way we can't comprehend by sending his son to be conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary and born of her yet without sin. An essential element of the Christian faith. I hope it's what you also believe. Lord willing, next week we'll pick up with thinking of Christ's passion. Having considered his incarnation, his coming in the flesh through the Virgin, we turn to his suffering under Pontius Pilate and all that flowed out of that. God bless.