Welcome to Unveiled Faces, a Redeemer Presbyterian Church podcast. Please enjoy our feature presentation. Well, there's a nursery rhyme about a girl and her lamb. And many of us have learned this rhyme when we're children. In the nursery rhyme, the girl's name is Mary, and her lamb is described as having a fleece that's white as snow. Now, when I sang this rhyme as a child, I didn't make the connection between what I was singing and the biblical account of Jesus's birth. And this is not to say that a connection between the rhyme and the Bible was intended by the author of the rhyme. I've since done a little research, and it does not appear as though the author of the nursery rhyme ever intended for a connection between the biblical narrative of Jesus's birth and the rhyme. Nevertheless, It's intriguing to know that the Bible describes Jesus as the pure, spotless Lamb of God who has been born to a young woman named Mary. And the Mary of our sermon text did indeed have a little lamb. And it's only because that lamb's fleece was white as snow that we, the people of the Lamb, are saved from our sins. Now, our entire sermon text describes the birth of Jesus Christ, verses 18-25, that is, and these verses, verses 18-25, are a more detailed account of what Matthew has already written back in verse 16. Verse 16 is at the end of the genealogy that we looked at two Sundays ago. And if you recall, Matthew brings that genealogy to a very careful conclusion by writing, And Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. Now, this is an obvious deviation from how Matthew had described every other generation in the genealogy. In every other generation, Matthew wrote that so-and-so begot so-and-so, but then when it comes to the birth of Jesus, Matthew uses this special formula to show that Joseph was the husband of Mary, but he never says that Joseph begot Jesus. What he says is that Mary begot Jesus. And this needs to be explained. This needs to be explained because if you knew nothing about the virgin birth of Jesus, and this was the first time you were reading Matthew's gospel, you'd read verse 16, and you'd begin scratching your head, wondering why Matthew breaks from the regular pattern of so-and-so begot so-and-so. You'd be wondering, why doesn't Matthew just say, and Joseph begot Jesus? Well, verses 18 through 25 answer this question. Our sermon text provides a more detailed explanation of what is already stated in verse 16. Matthew gets directly to the point in verse 18. Now, the birth of Jesus was as follows. After his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Now, there's two chronology statements made here in this verse, and these chronology statements are important to our understanding of the special circumstances of Jesus' birth. The first chronology statement says that Mary was found to be with child after she was betrothed to Joseph. The second chronology statement says that Mary was found to be with child before she came together with Joseph. Now, liberals claim that neither of these two chronology statements prove or support the virgin birth of Jesus. If a Christian appeals to verse 18 as proof that Jesus was born of a virgin, the liberals will tell us that every woman, any woman who conceived in those days, back in the first century, any woman who conceived in those days could have been said to have been conceived after she was betrothed, as long as a woman was married. They'll point out that every woman who became pregnant while married conceived after she was betrothed. It might have been one year after she was betrothed. It might have been five years after she was betrothed. It might have even been 20 years after she was betrothed. But every married woman who became pregnant did so after she was betrothed. And so the liberals insist that this first chronology statement does not prove or even suggest the virgin birth of Jesus. And as far as the second chronology statement goes, that Mary was found to be with child before she came together with Joseph. The liberals tell us that this can be said of any woman who had relations with somebody other than the man she was betrothed to. In other words, Joseph was not the only man in the world who was capable of impregnating Mary, the liberals will suggest. And so just because she had not yet come together with Joseph doesn't mean that she had not come together with some other man. so for those who want to dismiss or deny the miraculous nature of Jesus' conception and birth, these chronology statements are explained in a way that suggests Mary behaved immorally, that she was unfaithful to Joseph while she was betrothed to Joseph. Now the problem for the liberals is that these two chronology statements are not the only statements the Bible makes on the matter of Jesus' virgin birth. If we look again at verse 18, we'll see that not only are these two chronology statements in that verse, but verse 18 also informs us that the conception of Jesus was not the work of man. Rather, it was the work of the Holy Spirit, Look again at verse 18. Now, the birth of Jesus was as follows. After his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Of the Holy Spirit. In order for the liberals to deny the miraculous nature of Jesus' conception and virgin birth, they need to ignore the last four words of this verse. They need to pretend like those words don't exist, that they're not there. But they are there, and they are very important words. Mary was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Now Luke's gospel teaches us the same thing. In fact, Luke specifically tells us that Mary was a virgin, as does Matthew in his quotation of Isaiah. But Luke specifically tells us that Mary was a virgin, which completely rules out the slanderous accusation that she had acted immorally. Listen as I read Luke 1, verses 26 and 27. 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." Now, the narrative goes on. After Gabriel explains to Mary that she has found favor with God and will bring forth a son, Mary asks the angel the obvious question, 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." Now this is the explanation that the Bible gives to us, brothers and sisters. After Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before she came together with Joseph, she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit came upon her and the highest, the power of the highest overshadowed her. And there's nothing in the Bible that would suggest otherwise, especially that Mary had acted immorally. That's nothing more than a slanderous accusation of a sinful and rebellious heart. Mary was a woman of virtue, and her dialogue with the angel Gabriel demonstrates this. Moreover, Matthew and Luke both explain to us that it was the Holy Spirit who caused Mary to conceive. And so there can be no mistake. There can be no mistake about the miraculous nature of Jesus' conception and birth. If a person truly believes that the Bible is the actual Word of God, then there can be no denying that Jesus was born of a virgin, because the Bible is so exceedingly clear on this point. And because we have the biblical testimony of Jesus' birth, it's clear to us that this is a miraculous birth. The conception was miraculous. The birth was miraculous. It's clear to us the miraculous nature of Jesus' birth. But put yourself in Joseph's shoes for a moment. Initially, Joseph didn't know that Mary's pregnancy was the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit. And when he learned that she was pregnant, he concluded that what anybody else would have concluded in the same circumstance. He concluded that Mary must have been unfaithful to him. And this is significant because Joseph and Mary were betrothed in marriage. in the Jewish culture back then, betrothal meant that a man and woman were legally married to each other. Now, sometimes you'll hear people say that betrothal back then was kind of similar to what we call engagement today, but that's really not a good illustration. Engagement is simply the expressed intention to get married at some point. Engagements in our culture can be made and broken rather easily. A man can tell a woman he loves her and wants to marry her, and suddenly they're engaged. And if either of them change their mind, they can just call it off and it's done. That's how engagement works. But that's not even close to what betrothal was in the first century Jewish culture. A betrothed couple were actually joined together legally in a marriage covenant. And it's just that they had not consummated the marriage yet. That's the difference between betrothal and what we would just call marriage without betrothal. The betrothed marriage was a marriage that was not yet consummated. In other words, they were not living together yet. They were still bound together in a marriage covenant, and that covenant could only be broken or dissolved by death or divorce, but they weren't living together yet. So when Joseph learned that Mary was with child, He knew that he wasn't the father, but he also knew that somebody had to be the father, so he concluded that Mary must have been unfaithful to him during their betrothal period. And this made Joseph decide to divorce her. Verse 19, then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. Now from this, we can see that Joseph was a righteous and upstanding man. We can see this in at least four ways. First, verse 19 explicitly states that Joseph was a just man, so we have it on the authority of God's Word that he was, and that alone is sufficient for drawing the conclusion. But second, we see that Joseph was upstanding in the sense that he was not going to tolerate infidelity within the marriage. Marriage was honorable to Joseph, and he was committed to keeping the marriage bed undefiled. So when he thought that Mary had acted dishonorably, he resolved to divorce her. Which brings us to the third way we see that Joseph was upstanding. His intention was to divorce Mary in a way that caused her the least amount of shame and punishment. Had Mary truly been unfaithful to Joseph, then Joseph could have brought public charges against her. And this is serious because the penalty for adultery was death by stoning. So had Joseph been a spiteful man, he could have pursued revenge by bringing the full application of the law against Mary. He could have had her publicly shamed and stoned to death. But Joseph had already decided not to do that, in spite of the fact that he must have been experiencing all the emotional trauma associated with betrayal and heartbreak. He still loved Mary, and he did not want to see her harmed. And so he determined to divorce her privately. He would simply issue a certificate of divorce to her in the presence of two witnesses, and that would effectively dissolve the marriage. He did not need to press charges, so to speak. before Joseph could even put this plan into action, God sent an angel to him to explain to him that things are not the way that they seem. The angel explained to Joseph that the child Mary is carrying is the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit. And Joseph was told that this child will be a very special child with a very special mission. Joseph was told that this child is going to be the Savior of his people. And Joseph's response to this revelation was the response of faith. as extraordinary an explanation as this is, Joseph believed what the angel told him. He received it as the truth, and then he acted upon the truth in obedience to God. And this is the fourth indicator that Joseph was an upstanding man. In spite of what other people thought about Mary, in spite of how the situation looked to everybody else, Joseph believed what God had revealed to him through the angel, and so he took Mary into his home and he honored her. in honoring her, Joseph waited to consummate the marriage until after Jesus was born." Verses 24 and 25. Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took to him his wife, and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and called his name Jesus. As we've already seen, the Bible is very clear very clear that Jesus is born of a virgin. Yet some professing Christians refuse to accept the truth of the virgin birth. In 2017, a survey was conducted that showed that 85% of Americans who claim to be Christian believe that Jesus was born of a virgin. 85%. That's 85% across the board of all professing Christians. we drill into this statistic, we find that 92% of Americans who attend church every week believe in the virgin birth, whereas 70% of those who attend church monthly believe in the virgin birth, and only 37% of those who seldom or never attend church, yet they profess to be Christian, believe in the virgin birth. Why do so many professing Christians disbelieve that Jesus was born of a virgin? And is this really such a big deal? So what if somebody doesn't believe in the virgin birth? Does that really make a difference? To answer the first question first, I think the number one reason people give for rejecting the virgin birth is because it's scientifically impossible. It goes against science, they say. And we might be inclined to respond to such a person saying that this person has an inflated view of science. And in a lot of cases, this is true. Many people have a worldview where the natural sciences serve as the ultimate standard for truth. So if something is not scientifically demonstrable, then they withhold belief. But the more accurate explanation for why people would reject the virgin birth—professing Christians, that is—is that they have too low a view of God. Not necessarily too high a view of science, but too low a view of God. They've obviously concluded that God, if He even exists, must be subject to all the same laws of nature that mankind is subject to, which is just another way of saying that God cannot perform miracles. And if they think that God cannot perform miracles, then sure, the virgin birth is going to be a stumbling block, because the virgin birth is a miraculous event. But the virgin birth is not a question that's going to be answered by science. As Christians, we believe in science. We have a high regard for science because it's God's general revelation to us. But we also believe in God's special revelation. And when confronted with the claims of our sermon text that Jesus was born of a virgin, that Mary's pregnancy was a miraculous one, We look not to science, but we look to the power and authority of God. The question we ask is, does God have the power and authority to cause a virgin to bring forth a son? to ask the same question in slightly different terms. Does the God who invented procreation and who designed and spoke into existence all the workings of men and women so that they can bring forth children, does this same God have the ability to cause a virgin to bring forth a son? The obvious answer is, of course He does. Of course He does. Brothers and sisters, the conception and birth of Jesus happened exactly as it says it happened in the Bible. It happened exactly the way we confess it to have happened when we recite the Apostles' Creed. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. Now, why is this such a big deal? Why has this been an explicit statement of our confession of faith over all these many years? Let me give you two reasons. The first, and perhaps the most obvious reason, to deny the virgin birth of Jesus is to deny the truth of the Scriptures. Since the Bible so clearly asserts that the virgin birth is true, if a person says Jesus was not born of a virgin, then that person is saying that at least some parts of the Bible are not really true. And if every part of the Bible is not true, then there's no reason to believe that any part of the Bible is true. In other words, if people were able to pick and choose what is and what is not true in the Bible, then the Bible loses its authority. It becomes subject to the authority of man, rather than man being subject to the authority of the Bible. So to reject the virgin birth is to reject the truth and authority of the Holy Scriptures. A second reason why this is a big deal is to reject the virgin birth is because if Jesus was not born of a virgin, then we have to ask, who was His Father? And regardless of how we answer that question, if we're not saying that the Holy Spirit was His Father, no matter how we answer that question, there is no answer that leaves the gospel intact. Romans 116 says that the gospel of Christ is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. In order for the gospel of Christ to be the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, at least two things need to be true of Jesus. He needs to be truly man, and he needs to be without sin. He needs to be truly man, and he needs to be without sin. Jesus needs to be truly man because he came to make atonement for man. This is one of the reasons why, for example, the fallen angels are not eligible for salvation through Jesus Christ. James 2.19 tells us that even the demons know and believe the truth of who Jesus is, yet they tremble. Why do they tremble? Because they know that there's no salvation for them. They know that they are doomed for destruction. Now think about this. The demons fully believe that Jesus is Lord. They know beyond a shadow of doubt that He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Yet their belief that Jesus is Lord and Savior does nothing for them. Nothing. Why? because Jesus did not come to save fallen angels. He came to save fallen humans. Had He come to save fallen angels, then He would have taken on the nature of an angel. But because He came to save fallen humans, He took on the nature of a man. This was necessary in order for Jesus to qualify as an acceptable substitute for man. Hebrews 10.4 tells us that it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Why? Because bulls and goats could never be an acceptable substitute for man. Never. They're of a different nature than man. Only a man One who shares our same nature can be a substitutionary sacrifice for our sins. The bulls and the goats of the Old Covenant merely functioned as a shadow of the one and only substitutionary sacrifice that is acceptable to God for atoning for the sins of man, and that, of course, is Jesus Christ. So those bulls and those goats, they pointed forward to Christ Jesus. Those who believed in the message that was communicated and typified in the sacrificing of bulls and goats were believing in Christ. And on that basis, they were saved. Their sins were forgiven. And like in the same today, we look back to Christ. We look back, and if we believe upon him, our sins are forgiven. And so it's only through Christ that a person's sins can be forgiven. And it's only because Christ took our very nature. because he became like us so that he can be a sacrifice and a substitute for us. So if the gospel of Christ is a power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, then it's absolutely essential that Jesus bears the same nature as those he is atoning for. This is why it's so important that Jesus was born of a woman, as it says in Galatians 4.4, that he was the seed of the woman, as it was promised back in Genesis 3, that Jesus was born of Mary, as it says in our sermon text. Now, denying the virgin birth doesn't necessarily deny the humanity of Jesus. And so in making the point that Jesus needed to take upon himself the same nature as those that he was making atonement for, I'm not saying that denying the virgin birth somehow makes Jesus less than human. No, the catastrophe that results from denying the virgin birth is that it makes Jesus a sinful human. Because he was conceived by the Holy Spirit, Jesus was guarded from the imputation of original sin, which is to say, Jesus did not inherit the sin of Adam when he was conceived. Had Jesus had a human father, then things would be very different. Had He been conceived in the normal way that humans are conceived, then He would have received a sinful human nature. And if He received a sinful human nature, then He would not be qualified to be the spotless Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. But because Jesus did not have a human father, he did not begin his human life with a sinful human nature. Rather, he began his human life with a sinless human nature, like Adam did when he was first created. He, too, was sinless in the beginning. And this is why the Bible describes Jesus as the last Adam, or as we sometimes say, the second Adam. In all of human history, there have been only two men who have begun their lives with sinless human natures, the first Adam and the last Adam. The first Adam failed to maintain his sinlessness, whereas the second Adam or the last Adam succeeded in maintaining his sinlessness. This has much, much to do with why the gospel of Christ is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. It's essential to that gospel. Now, when speaking when speaking about the gospel of Christ, we often place a lot of emphasis upon the death of Jesus, and rightfully so, because the Bible itself places a lot of emphasis upon the death of Jesus. It's a shorthand way of speaking of the entirety of Christ's atonement. But equally important is the life of perfect obedience that Jesus lived, which is to say, Jesus not only died for us, but he also lived for us. Consider this for a moment. If all Jesus had to do was to die for us, then he could have descended from heaven as a full-grown man and gone straight to the cross of crucifixion. He could have risen from the dead three days later and then ascended back into heaven. And had this been the case, if all he needed to do was die for us, then he could have completed the atonement over a single weekend, a three-day weekend. He would not have had to have lived for 33 years on this earth in perfect obedience to God's law. But the gospel of salvation requires that Jesus had spent those 33 years of life on this earth living in perfect obedience to God's law. Why? because he had to fulfill all righteousness, as he said to John the Baptist in John 5.30. Jesus had to do everything that God requires of man. As the last Adam, Jesus came to succeed where the first Adam had failed. Jesus came to earn the righteousness that God demands of all people so that the righteousness He earned could be transferred to those who put their faith in Him for the forgiveness of sins. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says that when we put our faith in Jesus, we become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. We become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. And this is referring to the righteousness that Jesus earned during those 33 years of living on this earth, that righteousness which He earned and then graciously imputes to those of us who have faith. Philippians 3.9 says something very similar. It says that when we are in Jesus, our justification is not because of our own righteousness, but because of that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. So to put it plainly, Jesus needed to begin his life as a sinless human baby so that he could live a full life of perfect obedience and submission to God. And only after he had successfully lived that perfectly sinless life did he earn the righteousness that is pleasing and acceptable to God. And as part of your salvation, Jesus gives you that righteousness which He earned when you have faith in Him. He imputes His righteousness to you so that it's as if you yourself had been born without sin and lived a perfectly sinless, obedient life of submission to God yourself. So in order for the gospel of Christ to be the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, Jesus had to be truly man so that he can atone for the sins of man, and he had to live a perfectly sinless life so that he could fulfill all the demands of righteousness on behalf of those who believe in him. Both of these require the virgin birth. If Jesus is to be the Savior who lived for us and died for us, then he must be the baby who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He must be Mary's little lamb whose fleece was indeed as white as snow. And as you can see, virgin birth is a very important doctrine. It's not a standalone tale or fable of religious folklore that people can simply take or leave. Rather, it's an irreducible part of Christ's atonement for sins. Without it, the gospel either, or with it the gospel stands, without it the gospel falls. The virgin birth is that essential, and that is why the Scriptures are so explicitly clear on the nature of Christ's conception and birth. So brothers and sisters, as we approach Christmas time, as we are in this Advent season, we are singing the carols, the songs, all that remember and rejoice in Christ Jesus. An essential component of this celebration is to know that he was born of the Virgin Mary. to know that He was conceived of the Holy Spirit, to know that He is the promised seed that would come to the woman, that He was born of the woman, and He was born in order that He might redeem His people, save His people from their sins. He is that Savior, and we affirm that when we affirm the virgin birth of Christ. This has been a presentation of Redeemer Presbyterian Church. For more resources and information, please stop by our website at visitredeemer.org. All material herewithin, unless otherwise noted. Copyright Redeemer Presbyterian Church. Elk Grove, California. Music furnished by Nathan Clark George. Available at nathanclarkgeorge.com.