Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Let's take our seats and grab our hymnals.
We're going to start our second service.
Take our hymnals and open it to song number 185.
Song number 185.
We'll sing, My Savior's Love.
Song number 185.
I stand, all means ready, on the first.
I stand, all means, in the process
of Jesus, the Nazarene.
And wonder how we can love you
a sinner condemned on me.
How marvelous, how wonderful
and my song shall never be.
How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me.
Sing it out a second.
For me it was in the Lord
that we prayed that my will but die.
We have no tears for his opening
God's bed, God's blood for mine.
How marvelous, how wonderful
and my song shall never be.
How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me.
He devises them with sorrow.
He made them his merry own.
He bore them her that to Calvary
and suffered and died alone.
How marvelous, how wonderful
and my song shall never be.
How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me.
When with a ransom in glory
his face and that shall see
will be my joy to the ages
to sing of his love for me.
How marvelous, how wonderful
and my song shall never be.
How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me.
Let's pray.
All right, good morning everybody.
Welcome to Verity Baptist Church.
Let's go through a couple announcements real quickly.
First let us count up any salvations
that I'm not aware of.
So in the back section were there any
salvations to report?
Anybody?
All right, how about in this section
any salvations?
Anyone?
All right, last section.
Any salvations to report?
Three, five, anybody else?
All right, well we do have soul winning
this afternoon around 1.45
and the first sermon did run long.
The second sermon will be a bit shorter
to compensate for that.
On upcoming activities
in the middle of our bulletin,
today is our monthly prayer meeting
which will be after soul winning
and then we have men's choir practice
starting next Sunday
and the Sunday after that
for the Father's Day performance
in three weeks.
We're going to be having a bowling event
and we do have a soul winning marathon
coming up in 15 days on June 12th
on Independence Day.
I believe that's it for announcements.
We'll have Brother Chris lead us
in another song.
Amen for our next song,
song number 179.
Song number 179.
We'll sing such love
that God should love
a sinner such as I.
Ready on the verse.
Ready, sing.
That God should love a sinner
such as I
should yearn to change
my sorrow and to please
God rest till he ever
plans to bring me not.
How wonderful is love
I pay such love,
such love,
such wonderful,
such love,
such wonderful
that God should love
a sinner such as I.
How wonderful is love
I pay
that God should
join so freely
in this year.
Oh, don't get mad,
it's that of Calvary.
If ever you
loved God quite over dear,
then love him
by the ransom fee.
Such love,
such wonderful,
such love,
such wonderful
that God should love
a sinner such as I.
How wonderful is love
I is unearned
that for all
will go at the
such as I.
God, Father,
plan us,
name your plan and die.
Redemption for
all toward the same light.
How long
and lo and grace
be mine.
Such love,
such wonderful,
such love,
such wonderful
that God should love
a sinner such as I.
How wonderful is love
I pay
and now he takes me
to his heart to suck.
He asks me not to
feel a service place.
The car on the
dreamwalk is called
the wide open
artist's arms are free.
Such love,
such wonderful,
such love,
such wonderful
that God should
love a sinner such as I.
How wonderful is love
I is.
Great singing.
For now, let's take our offering.
Thank you.
Amen.
For the scripture reading,
please open your Bibles
to the book of Matthew.
Matthew chapter 1.
And we will be reading
from verse 18
down to verse 25.
Matthew chapter 1.
And we will be reading
from verse 18
down to verse 25.
Matthew chapter 1.
verses 18 to verse 25.
Please say amen if you're there.
Amen.
Matthew chapter 1 verse 18.
Now the birth of Jesus Christ
was in this wise.
When his mother Mary
was espoused to Joseph,
before they came together,
she was found child of the Holy Ghost.
Then Joseph her husband
who was a really just man
and not willing to make her a public example
was minded to put her away privately.
But while he thought on these things
behold the angel of the Lord appeared
unto him in a dream saying
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
and she shall bring forth a son
and thou shalt call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins.
Now all this was done
and it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord
by the prophet saying
the only virgin shall be with child
and shall bring forth a son
and they shall call his name Emmanuel
which being interpreted is
God with us.
Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel
of the Lord had bidden him and took unto him
his wife and knew her not
till she had brought forth her first born son
and they called his name Jesus.
Bless the reading of God's word
let us pray.
Thank you Lord for the state that you've given to us
I pray that you would please bless the Lord for this day
give us good weather for our soul winning our fellowship later on
and I pray that you would please bless the preaching
and the preaching of your Lord Lord this day.
We love you in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Alright we're here
in Matthew chapter 1 and
the name of the sermon is the birth of
Christ. So this is our Christmas
sermon for the year. I'm talking about the
virgin birth of Jesus. Obviously
we're going verse by verse through the book of Matthew
and just looking at these last eight verses
and so let us just start here
verse number 18
The Bible says, Now the birth of Jesus Christ
was on this wise. When it says on this wise
it's like a makalumong way to say it was
in this manner or in this way
is what it's saying. When as his mother
Mary was espoused to Joseph
before they came together she was found with
child of the Holy Ghost. Now
there's a lot of confusion about this verse
and this word here where it says espoused
to Joseph. If you look at that word
espoused and you take
off the first letter
and you take off the last letter
you've got the word spouse.
It's like an older
way to say that they're married
espoused to Joseph. They're not engaged
they are married.
And I understand the confusion
because you've got Mary and Joseph
and they're married but they've
not physically been together and that's
confusing to us in our modern day or at least
in this culture. You know here in the
Philippines or in the United States
in most cultures generally
you get married and you come together pretty
much the same time, same day
or same week like but that's not
what you're seeing here in Matthew 1
where basically they get married
but they're not actually together
yet and there's a time period that goes by.
Now around the world marriage customs
are very different. So in different
cultures they do things differently. I'm
sure there are cultures today that you
would legally get married but
not actually be together as husband and wife
immediately. It's just not what we have
here in the Philippines so it's kind of hard to understand
this but that's what's taking place.
They're married
but they've not yet come together
okay. Now what I would
presume that the reason why
is probably that they get married
and they decide they want to be together
but he's not yet necessarily
ready to financially prepare for his
own home so they're kind of saving up money or
whatever. Those would be kind of my guesses
so they're kind of waiting six months or something like
that but you have to realize this is the days
before cell phones,
before Facebook. I mean a long
distance relationship would have been a lot
harder back then than now
because you're not even going to see each other.
You're not going to have communication.
Now I'll give you an example. When my
parents got married my mom
and my dad worked at the same office
and my dad was being transferred
and then you know he started communicating
with my mom and
so they started talking but my
dad had just moved so they started a kind of
a long distance relationship and
back then if you were to call someone on the phone
it's like you called for five minutes
a thousand pesos.
It's expensive right. You couldn't just
talk to people long distance
and so they weren't able to visit each other
all the time. They didn't have a lot of money and
so when he would travel
it was becoming very expensive
so after a couple months my dad
just kind of had to make a decision.
Either we get married or we end this
because I can't really afford to keep doing this.
I mean that's the way my dad
Mr. Romantic tells the story
where it's like either you know what we were going to get married
or we had to break up
because there was no
alternative financially and
so they got engaged and
you know what they decided to get married
but they were not yet together. Of course in our modern
day you think of engagement but that's one reason
to get engaged where you're not around each other but
you want to be committed. Although when they
first got married they were not around
each other at the very beginning the
entire time and that often takes places
even in our culture today where you
might get married but you're not yet ready
to be like together all the time.
Maybe someone's working in another place
and then after a couple years you kind of get it worked out
but for whatever reason
they decide they want to be married. They legally
get married. They're espoused
together but they
have not yet come together yet
as husband and wife. They're not
engaged. They are married
but they have not yet been together
physically. Verse number 19
Then Joseph
her husband being a just
man and not willing to make her
a public example was
minded to put her away privately.
And so Joseph is a just man.
He's a good man and he has decided to put
her away which is a way to say divorce
but he's doing it privately
or privately
quietly. He doesn't want to make her
a public example. He doesn't want to
embarrass her. He just wants to kind of do it
quietly and move on with his
life and this is what he's thinking.
It's in his mind but he's considering
these things. Okay now turn to Matthew 19
Matthew 19
Now here's the thing about this
Joseph and Mary
they get married but
they're not yet actually together.
And then all of a sudden
she ends up being pregnant.
Now here's the thing about this
in this chapter we don't see what Mary's
thoughts are in the situation.
We get those thoughts in the book of Luke which is something
we're not going to look at because it's not the focus
in the book of Matthew. But here's the thing about this
how does Joseph find out that
Mary is with child?
Not from Mary.
We don't really know but he finds out from somebody
and he's thinking about getting divorced because
all of a sudden these rumors are going around and it turns out
well it must be true because there's multiple witnesses
where it's like wait a minute
I'm married to this woman. I haven't been with her
and yet she's with child.
It's like that's not what I signed on for.
It's always getting married
assuming this is a godly person
that she's pure and we want to be together
and it turns out that she's with child from
some other guy. It's kind of like that's not what
I signed up for. And you have to realize
that in this time period I'm sure
a lot of people especially in the culture
where it was not accepted to have children out of wedlock
there's a lot of people that probably
criticize Mary, a lot of rumors
a lot of gossip
and of course there's going to be
an embarrassment or a shame for Joseph
because like wait a minute
it's like this is not my child. And of course
it would be hard on Mary also because she did nothing
wrong and yet she's going to be accused
by people as if she did do something wrong.
Now here's the thing about this
in
187 AD
there's a Greek philosopher by the name of Celsus
and this is what he said in his
book, The True Word.
So this Greek philosopher writes
a book called The True Word
and it's like wait a minute
The True Word's already been written.
Right? But he wrote a book
called The True Word where I guess he's
going to be an expert on all religious matters
and he said he
expressed what appears to have been the consensus
Jewish opinion about Jesus.
That his father was a Roman soldier
who was called Pantera.
Pantera means panther and was a fairly
common name among Roman soldiers.
The rumors repeated in the Talmud
and in medieval Jewish writings where Jesus
referred to as Yeshua ben
Pantera, the son of
Pantera. Now the Talmud
is the holy book of Jews.
The Torah is
not. The Old Testament
is not.
The Torah is Genesis
through Deuteronomy. But that's
their holy book nor do they even believe Genesis
through Deuteronomy. Their holy
book is the Talmud or I should say
unholy book. And in their book
the Talmud, what they say about Jesus
is that he is the bastard
child of Pantera
and Mary. That basically
Mary cheated on him. She
hoarded around and then that's how he
was birthed. That's what they teach. Now in
America, there was a famous
rock band from I think the 70s
named Pantera.
It's like it's interesting
that you decide to name yourself
after the supposed father of Jesus
Christ from the Talmud because obviously
rock music is blaspheming God.
They hate the God of the Bible.
They hate everything that the Bible stands for.
But this was something
that was commonly said and look I'm sure
it wasn't just the Jews. Other people had said,
hey did you hear what Mary did?
And this is the sort of accusation that would be
brought out even though Mary did nothing wrong and in
fact she is going to give birth to Jesus
because she's very righteous.
Because she's a great woman and she's
the one who ends up giving birth to
Jesus but the accusations would have been
wait a minute she cheated on Joseph.
And this is what Joseph is hearing.
He's assuming that his wife
has cheated on him. What other
thing could you assume in this situation?
Obviously he's going to assume, well she must
have been with some other guy because the first
thing that comes to your mind is
I think she's with Child of the Holy Ghost.
I don't think she did anything wrong.
Obviously he's going to assume
she did something wrong.
Now Matthew 19,
notice what it says in verse 3,
the Pharisees also
came on to him, tempting him
and saying unto him, is
it lawful, is it
allowed for a man to put away his wife
for every cause?
This is one of the dumbest
questions in the entire
Bible. For every cause?
For any reason you want?
It's like, hey,
I said I wanted scrambled
eggs, you gave me sunny side up,
I want a divorce.
That's what they're saying in Matthew.
For every cause. You get mad,
you have one little smile, can you get a divorce
for any reason that you want?
What a stupid question that is. And of course
they're not trying to give a logical question,
they're trying to make Jesus look bad or try
to get the people against him by saying whatever.
But that's literally what they're saying.
Can you just divorce your wife for whatever reason
that you want?
And he answered and said unto them, have ye not
read that he which made
them at the beginning made them male and female
and said for this cause shall a man
leave father and mother and
shall cleave to his wife and they
twain shall be
one flesh. And what Jesus said is
do you not understand the Scriptures?
Did you not read in the Bible that
you know what, when you get married
you become one, you're meant to stay
together. Now here's the thing about this.
We're going to see here in a second the exception
for legally being allowed to
get a divorce in the Word of God.
But if someone were to point blank ask me
about divorce, I'd be like
God is against divorce.
And just saying those four words, God
is against divorce, I mean that sums
up what I believe. It sums up what the Bible
teaches. And so Jesus focuses
on the main thing. It's like for every cause
it's like no, God said I want you to stay married.
Right? Go to Genesis chapter 2.
Genesis 2.
Let's see where this is first mentioned in the Bible.
Genesis chapter 2.
And the Bible says in Genesis 2 verse 18.
Genesis 2 verse 18.
And the Lord God said
it is not good
that the man should be alone.
I will make in help meet for him.
Now the Bible says here, this is often
misquoted. Often you hear this quoted
it is not good that man should be alone.
It's not actually what the Bible says. It is not
good that the man should be alone.
The man, the definite article
is specifically telling you about
Adam. Now the reason why this is significant
is he's saying it's not good that the man I
created, Adam, should be alone. So when
God's making in help meet for him, what I
believe and teach is there's one person
designed for you to get
married to. He's saying I'm making a person
specifically for Adam.
Not just in general, I'm making woman for man.
Although that's true, it's not good that the
man, Adam, should be alone. I'm going to make in help
meet specifically for Adam
is what he's teaching here. But then it says
this in verse 18.
Meet for him. Now look,
I'm not
really preaching against
people's over obsession
with animals.
Let me explain something to you.
God didn't design you
to just spend your life,
people that often don't want to get
married but they're going to buy a pet.
They buy a dog,
and look, I'm not against you having a pet
so if you have a pet, I'm not preaching against you.
I'm not saying it's wrong. I had a dog growing up
It's like we have three young kids so for me
it's like for safety reasons, we don't have an animal
you know. But it's not, I'm not
against you having a pet. But here's what I'm saying.
It's like there's people
that say, I don't want to get married. I don't want to get
tied down. I don't want to get married.
And then they buy a pet. You know,
there's something inside of you that
has a desire to get married.
You're not going to replace that by
buying a pet and putting
a diaper on it and
bringing it everywhere and feeding it.
And it's just like the help meet
this design for you
is someone of the opposite
gender
that is a human being. Okay?
As simple as I can make it.
Not someone of the same gender, not someone
of the animal world, but a human
being of the opposite gender.
That is the help meet design for you.
Okay? Now I'm not against you having a
pet but here's the
reality about having a pet. When
Nathan told David about the story,
this person has one little
u-lamp. That's all he has. Because he has
nothing else, he gets a pet. And that's why people get
pets. Okay? What I would say is
you know what, actually maybe you have a desire to
get married. Maybe you want to invest your time
into that instead of
investing it into an animal. Okay?
You're going to be mad at me all you want.
It's whatever. I'm not against having pets.
I'm just explaining the word of God that the help meet
was not
every beast of the field or
the bird that you put in a cage.
Right? Or whatever. But the help meet
was actually the woman made for the man.
Okay? Not an animal.
Verse 21.
When
God institutes marriage
and He describes it at the very beginning
before He comes up with other added things
to this, He says
you get married, you leave father
and mother, and you cleave
onto your wife. You are now a new family.
So for example, if you're married in this room
however old you are,
it's like you and your family with your
husband or wife, you make the decision.
Obviously the husband's ahead of that home.
But what I'm saying is it's not your in-laws
or your parents that make those decisions.
Now that you're married, it's like
you make your own decisions.
Right? Now I'm not saying, I mean obviously I think
you ought to respect your parents and obviously
they've lived a lot longer than you so they could have a lot of wisdom.
But what I'm saying is some people
make their decisions simply because that's what they want
their mom or their dad or their in-laws
want them to do. That's not what the Bible
teaches. The Bible says you leave
father and mother and cleave onto your wife and you are
now one flesh. And
even if your parents are very
godly people it does not mean
they're going to see things the same way
in every area of life.
They might have a different opinion. Well here's the thing.
As parents we
pour our energy into our kids to raise them
but once they become adults and get married
it's like they are now their own
family. And they make their
decisions. You leave father and mother and cleave onto
your wife and you are one flesh according
to the Word of God. Go back to Matthew 19.
Matthew 19.
Now of course one flesh, you know, besides
not getting a divorce
it's like, wait a minute, against polygamy
also. Say brother Stuckey
but a lot of people got married
multiple people in the Bible. It doesn't mean it's right.
A lot of people got drunk
in the Bible. It doesn't make it right.
A lot of people did a lot of things in the Bible.
It doesn't make it right. I mean
you can't be, well you know
like the Solomon plan.
I'm one flesh with this woman
and one flesh with this woman
and one flesh. It doesn't make any sense.
You leave father and mother and cleave onto your wife
it's like you become one flesh. You're not getting married
to somebody else then.
It's one person that God has designed for you.
Matthew 19 verse 6.
Wherefore there are no more
twain but one flesh. What therefore
God hath joined together, let not man put
asunder. And what Jesus
says is, what God hath joined
together, let it not be
broken apart. Now when
I perform weddings I will say that
you make this decision
before God and your family and friends
but what we're saying is that God is joining you
together. That's what we believe.
You get married to someone as a saved person
you find somebody else who loves God
and what you believe is God is joining you together.
Here's the thing
we're going to see the grounds for
divorce here in Matthew 19
and what's being mentioned
by Joseph, what he's thinking about.
But here's the thing, if there's a
legality to divorce
you know what that also means?
There's a legality to marriage as well.
It's not just, well we made
a decision before God that we're married.
No, no, no, you got to make it legal.
Because if there's legality to divorce
there has to be legality to marriage.
Now I know in the US there's a lot of people that are like
really anti-government and I get it.
I get being against the
government. But it's like
you can go to extremes where it's like, well you know what
I'm so anti-government I'm not going to get
a driver's license. I'm not going to get a social
security card. The government can't tell me what to do.
Well you're going to spend your life in prison
at some point or another if that's the mentality
you take. But here's the thing about this
and people say, I'm not going to
get a marriage license because of the fact
the government can't tell me who to marry.
But there's legality to divorce
so there's legality to marriage.
And yes, you're saying you're doing this
before God and God is joining you
together but there's a legal process
to it. Now of course in the Bible people get
married in different ways because there's different
cultures. And cultures
do things differently. But what I'm
saying is there's legality
to it. It's not just well we made
this decision that in the eyes of God
we're married. But God says to put it on paper.
Make it legal or actually
you're not married in the eyes of God. You have
to make it legal. That's what the Bible says.
And so you get married
before God. He joins you together and it's
like let not man put asunder.
Don't let this be broken apart.
Verse 7, they say unto
him, why did Moses then command
to give a writing of divorcement and to put
her away? Now this is a
very misleading statement.
Did Moses command
to give a writing of divorcement?
No.
What Jesus says in the next verse is He suffered you
or allowed you. He didn't command you saying
it's so important for having
grounds for divorce. He's saying
you know what? He allowed you.
He suffered. God allowed
this to take place. It wasn't a command.
It's not like well you know what
you believe in sampum ultus, but you know what
I believe in 11. After thou shalt
not covet, thou shalt be
able to get a divorce.
Is that a commandment? No, I mean that's ridiculous.
Right? But that's what they're trying to basically say
in Matthew 19.
Moses commanded to give a writing of divorce.
And what Jesus says is this, He sayeth unto
them, Moses because of the
hardness of your hearts
commanded you,
suffered you. And what does suffer
mean? It means to allow.
He allowed you.
He didn't command it though. He allowed it
because of the hardness of your hearts. So what the Bible
is even saying here is even in the worst
situation you still should be willing
to forgive and even Joseph.
Right? Because he's allowing the certain
grounds and Joseph is doing nothing wrong,
but he said it's because of the hardness of our hearts.
Right? And it
said suffered you to put away your wives,
but from the beginning it was not so.
So what Jesus is saying is yes, there
is a grounds for divorce
and it is allowed. It's not a sin.
It's not a wrong.
But from the beginning it was not so.
Because what did it say in Genesis 2?
It's like you leave father and mother and you cleave on your wife.
And you become one flesh. That is
God's plan. Verse 9,
And I say unto you,
whosoever shall put away his wife,
except it be for fornication,
and shall marry another,
committeth adultery. And whosoever
marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.
Now there's two different words mentioned here in this
verse. You've got the word fornication
and you've got the word adultery.
These are different words.
There's similarity to
them, but they're not the same words.
Fornication is what you do
before you're married. Adultery
is if you're already married
and then you cheat on your spouse
or you cheat with someone who is married. That would be
adultery. Okay?
When the Bible says thou shalt not commit adultery,
that's not about what you do before you're married.
That's what you do after you are married.
Thou shalt not commit adultery. And what it's
saying is you're allowed to put away
your wife if it be for fornication.
What does that mean? It means
that if you marry somebody
and you think they're pure,
you think they've done nothing with anybody else,
and before you
come together, it turns out
that they have, then you're
able to get a divorce.
You're able to put them away.
Now look, this is hard to understand because
it's an extremely rare situation.
But that is
the situation that Joseph and Mary are in.
It doesn't really make sense in our
culture because, quite honestly,
I'm not saying you make your own decisions
in life, but if people do
tests for various STDs before they're
married or whatever, it's like
you would do that before you legally get married
generally. You wouldn't legally get married. Now let's
do the test to find out. Wait a minute, I thought
you were pure. But that would be the sort
of situation though. You legally get married,
you do the test, and it turns out, wait a minute,
you must not be pure.
But that would be an extremely
rare situation
in our culture here. So it's hard for us to
understand because we can't really think of a
situation where you legally get married
and yet you're not physically together
for a long time after that. But that's the situation
with Mary and Joseph because they're a spouse.
They are married, husband and wife, spouses.
But if that is the case,
that you get married, and you're not physically
together, and then all of a sudden you find
out, wait a minute, my wife is
pregnant, and I have not been
with her, which is the situation of Joseph,
she must have had
fornication with some other guy.
I married her thinking that she was pure
and that's not the case. And it's like, wait a minute,
I've been duped. I've been lied to.
It's a very rare situation
that would come up, but it is a situation
of Joseph. Now here's the thing.
If you get divorced
and it is not
for the correct reason, so if
it is for fornication, there's
legal grounds to divorce, and then
it's like you're free to be married to who you want.
Right? But if you get divorced
and not for the right reason, and
then you marry another and you're physically with
them, the Bible says you commit adultery.
And whosoever marrieth her which is put
away doth commit adultery. Because
God expects you to stay married to the person
that you get married to. If you get a divorce,
you are legally bound
while those two people are alive
to stay together. And if you get married to
somebody else, then the Bible says that is committing
adultery. Unless the divorce was
for fornication, which is
a very rare situation
that I've never heard of anybody
in real life
outside of Joseph and Mary ever
being in. It's a very rare
situation that God gives a means
and a grounds for divorce.
Okay? Now,
here's what I want to say about this. And it says in verse 10,
His disciples say unto him,
If the case of the man be
so with his wife,
it is not good to marry.
If I can't get divorced when my wife
makes me sunny-side up eggs,
it's not even worth getting married.
Now, that's the sort of statement from someone
who just wants to fornicate with a bunch of people
and doesn't want to make it legal.
That's why it's like I shy away and say,
Well, you know, I don't want to do a
marriage license. You know, we're married before
God. It's like, well, why would you say that? Because
why wouldn't you want to just be committed if you are fully
committed? Just make it legal.
Right? Make it real
and then there's no turning back.
It's a forever decision you make.
Go back to Matthew 1.
Matthew 1.
Now, let me say this, though.
I don't justify
divorce. I mean, if someone is in that
rare situation like
Joseph, he doesn't do anything wrong in Matthew 1,
even if he had divorced Mary.
Nothing wrong with that. I've never heard
of anybody being in that situation
before.
But let's say, you know, outside of that rare
situation, somebody gets divorced. I would never
justify divorce. But here's
what I will say.
If somebody is married to someone
and they divorce and they get
remarried, the Bible's clear that's
adultery. But it is not
perpetual adultery.
You ever say what I'm saying?
It's not like every day
it's not like, let's say,
you know, somebody, they get
remarried and then all of a sudden
you know, they realize, wait a minute, this is
adultery and then they're never together with their new
wife ever again. Well, that wouldn't be right
because you've already made that
decision. And to that point
it's not perpetual adultery where every day
you're under the wrath of God. It's like the decision
you make is like, okay, you committed adultery
and now you're married to that person
and you stay committed to that person.
Now, you can take this however you want it
and you can leave them watered down or whatever.
I would never justify divorce. But what I will
say is it would be much better
to legally get divorced and remarried
than just
living, open,
perpetual adultery by not being remarried.
Do you understand the difference?
I'm not justifying divorce, but I am realistic.
If somebody gets married at a young age
and they end up getting divorced, there's a good chance
they end up getting remarried.
It would be better to get
remarried if you're
not going to be able to contain yourself
and stay without, than to just
live with somebody else
and to say, well, in the eyes of God we're married.
It's like, no, actually you're not.
It's actually living and because there's no
legal divorce, it's like you're living in adultery
every single day. Whereas if you got
remarried,
you're not being perpetually committed to adultery.
Now, I'm not justifying you.
I'm just being realistic and saying
that would be better
if you cannot contain yourself.
Now, here's the reality. In our country,
that's a little bit difficult.
Because it's the one country where divorce is illegal.
Quite honestly,
God does give
grounds for divorce. In my opinion,
it would be better if divorce was legal
than illegal.
Because there's a lot of things in the Bible that are
sin and wrong, but it doesn't mean that it's
wrong to drink alcohol.
It's not illegal to drink alcohol in the Bible.
It's wrong to do drugs. It's not illegal though.
It's wrong to get a divorce, and yet
God does give a situation for divorce.
Now, that should be the only grounds for divorce
and obviously people get divorced for different reasons.
But what I'm saying is if someone's in that situation,
I always tell them, well, biblically,
you should stay single.
That's what God says. But if
you're not going to be able to do that, it is
better to get divorced and remarried
than just be with
somebody else without being married to that person.
There is a difference.
One is perpetual adultery. One of them is not.
Both are wrong,
but one is
much worse.
Matthew chapter 1, verse 20.
But while he
thought on these things,
and so here we see wisdom from
Joseph, because Joseph is thinking about
getting a divorce, but it says he thought on
these things. Now, here's
the thing. When you're making big
decisions in life,
you've got to think about it.
It shouldn't be something
that you rush into.
If you're going to make a big decision,
it's not like you're at the drive-thru at McDonald's.
It's like, man, I've got to spend 20 minutes
and pray about this. Just order whatever.
You're at the drive-thru at Burger King or whatever.
It's like, you know what?
Just small things. Just make your decision
and go with it.
But when you're making big decisions
in life, it makes sense to
think about these things.
And Joseph is thinking about getting a divorce.
That's a big decision. So what does Joseph do?
He thinks about it.
He's like, well, let me think about this to determine
what I'm going to do and how I'm going to do it.
But while he thought on these things,
behold, the angel of the Lord appeared
unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph,
thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee
marry thy wife, for that which is conceived in
her is of the Holy Ghost.
Now, when the angel says, fear not to take
unto thee marry thy wife, from the warning
it sounds like Joseph still wants to marry
Mary was very confused.
I thought this was a godly woman.
It's the person that God has for me.
We already made it legal.
Right? And then it's like, man, and he still
wants to be married to her, but it's
just like, if she did this, then I can't trust
her, because that's a big lie. And the angel
says, fear not. Don't worry,
because actually what is inside of her
is from the Holy Ghost. She actually didn't do anything
wrong. Okay?
Verse 21.
And she shall bring forth a son, and
thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he
shall save his people from their sins.
Verse 22.
Now, all this was done that it might be fulfilled,
which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and
shall bring forth a son, and they shall call
his name Immanuel, which being interpreted
is God with us. Now, I want you to pay
attention to the wording here in Matthew 1
23. Behold, a virgin shall
be with child, and
shall bring forth a son.
Now, turn to Isaiah chapter 7.
Isaiah 7.
Isaiah chapter 7.
And the verse here in
Matthew 1 23 is actually a quote
from Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14.
And notice what it says
in Isaiah 7 verse 14.
Therefore the Lord
Himself shall give you a sign.
Behold, a virgin
shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call
his name Immanuel.
Now, the Bible says here, a virgin
shall conceive. That's not what it
said in Matthew 1. It said
a virgin shall be with child.
So being with child
is synonymous with conceiving,
and what does that teach?
Life begins at
conception,
not at implantation a couple weeks later,
but because Matthew 1, and often
the Bible does this when it quotes from the Old Testament,
it slightly changes the wording
to teach you something. So
conceiving and being with child,
life begins at the moment of
conception, not a couple weeks later.
This is why I preached before against
the day after pills.
Because if life begins at conception, and you take
the day after pill, and the child
was conceived the day before,
then you might have killed an
innocent child. Because yes,
birth control pills can
stop ovulation, but sometimes
they don't.
And then if you use a day after pill right afterwards,
it's like, well, wait a minute, you could have ended a human life.
Because we don't believe life begins at
implantation or a couple months after, whatever.
Life begins at conception, according to
Matthew 1.23, cross-referenced
with Isaiah 7.14.
Now, in the King James, it says, behold, a
virgin shall conceive and bear a son. And that
is a miraculous sign.
God says, I'm going to give you a sign. A virgin's
going to have a child. That's a pretty
big sign. That's a
pretty big miracle. Right? You
can't really ask for something much bigger than that.
A virgin gives birth, because that's not scientifically
possible. That's not
genetically or biologically or medically
or however you want to say it. That is
not possible. Because
it's a sign or a miracle from
God. But wait a minute,
this is what it says in the NRSV
and some other modern versions.
Therefore the Lord
Himself will give you a sign.
Look, the young woman
is with child and shall bear a son
and shall call him Emmanuel.
So, in the NRSV,
here's the sign, here's the miracle,
a young woman's going to have a child.
Is it a miracle
if a 16-year-old has a child?
Or is that actually
possible? It's very possible.
Last week we saw a
35-year-old grandfather, according to the word of God.
It is possible for a teenager
to have a child. And in fact,
the implication here would be,
because it doesn't mention anything about them being married,
I mean, young women
get pregnant out of Red Rock all the time.
It's not even not a sign.
It's not even a good thing.
It's I'm going to give you a sign. A young woman's
going to have a child. That happens all
the time. All the
time. My sister got married at 17.
They had their child born at the age of 18.
Is that a sign from
God? No, it's called
it's scientifically possible
to have a child as a teenager.
The sign,
the miracle is a virgin
shall be with child. There's nothing miraculous
about a young woman having a child.
Right? You know, I don't know the earliest
age a woman can have a child. Obviously it varies
depending on the women, but I'm sure there's women that have been
you know,
maybe even below a teenager. I don't know.
13, 14, I'm sure it's happened
many times. People give it. It's not a miraculous
sign. A miraculous
sign is if a virgin has
a child. Go back to Matthew 1.
Matthew chapter 1.
And you know what, when it comes to what
we believe as Christians
and the foundational beliefs,
what are the two events
that you would say are the foundational
things to being a Christian?
The virgin birth
and the resurrection. Isn't that what you would say?
What are our two Christian
holidays that we celebrate?
Christmas and Easter, right?
Those are the two. Why? Because those are
the two biggest events.
Right? The virgin birth
and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Those are the two biggest signs. Because the sign
Jesus is already giving throughout the entire
Bible is, hey, I'm going to rise again.
But the sign he already gave is the virgin birth.
Those are the two big signs.
And this is prophesied all throughout the Old Testament
where it's going to take place
and all of these things.
So the virgin birth and the resurrection
are the two big events.
Now, there's a lot of people
that question the virgin
birth. We're going to talk about that in a second. Let me show you
one other thing, though, in Matthew 1.
23.
I have heard people criticize this verse
and say, well, wait a minute.
When was Jesus ever called Emmanuel?
Right?
Why does the Bible say that he's called Emmanuel?
When was he ever called Emmanuel?
It's commonly reported
by the world people know his name
as Emmanuel.
You know the church I went to in West Virginia
for several years?
You know what the name of that church was?
Emmanuel Baptist Church.
Did you know that probably outside of
First Baptist Church, I think the most common
word for church in the U.S. for Baptist Church
is Emmanuel Baptist Church.
It's probably the most common. First Baptist,
Trinity Baptist, Emmanuel Baptist. Those are the big
names. I mean, Emmanuel Baptist,
it's not just my church. It's a common church.
My good friend, Pastor Jason Robinson,
he was ordained by the pastor of
Emmanuel Baptist Church. We sing hymnals
where we call his name Emmanuel.
The Christmas song, O Come, O Come,
Emmanuel. I mean, everyone knows his name's
Emmanuel. So he should be called Emmanuel.
He's still called Emmanuel today.
That's not the primary name that you call Jesus,
but he's still called Emmanuel today.
Okay?
Now, turn to First Timothy chapter 3.
First Timothy chapter 3.
Now let me say this, that when it comes
to the things we teach at our church,
obviously I recommend that
people teach these things on to their kids
so their kids know the Word of God.
However, this is kind of the one event that's going to be
very, very, very, very, very difficult
for a young child to understand
because they don't understand how children
are normally created at a young age.
Nor am I telling you you should be telling
a very young child that.
I would just say what we tell our kids
is that Jesus Christ is the only one
that did not have a human father.
His father is God the Father.
We don't say anything other than that because
my oldest son is five. I just think that's too young
to understand all of those things.
You can do whatever you want raising your kids.
I do think we ought to tell our kids
about the virgin birth
without having to necessarily
explain it in detail because they're not
going to comprehend that, nor is it necessarily
are they at the right age to fully comprehend that.
But we should certainly tell our kids
that the birth of Jesus was very different
than anybody else because they need to
understand that Jesus Christ is different than
anybody else. And the virgin birth,
it authenticizes
the fact that Jesus was
the Messiah, the Christ,
God in the flesh and all of those
things. Now notice what it says in 1 Timothy 3
verse 16.
And without controversy
great is the mystery of
godliness. So in this verse you see
a colon after the word
godliness and then there's going to be
a list of things and all of these
things are encompassed in great is
the mystery. God was manifest
in the flesh, justified in the spirit,
seen of angels,
preached unto the Gentiles, believed
on the world and received up into
glory. All of these things are a
bit of a mystery where it's like we don't necessarily fully
comprehend logically
how these things work. We know
the Bible teaches them and we believe
all of them, but it's not something we have a perfect
understanding of.
And of course the first one in this list is
God was manifest in the flesh.
That's probably the most confusing.
That's the one where it's like yes, great
is the mystery. Why?
Because Jesus Christ
was 100%
God
and 100% man.
He was not
50-50.
100% God
and 100% man. You say why is it
a mystery? Because we can't
perfectly understand this.
Now how do we explain
this? Well he's 100% man because
he's born of Mary.
He's 100% God because
God is his Father.
Here's the thing. If
you beget a child, your
child is just as much
human as you are.
My son Zephaniah is every
bit as human as me.
Right? Everybody in this room
even if they're a young child or a baby
they are just as human as anybody else
in this room. Well God has a son
Jesus Christ, he's
just as much God
as God the Father.
Now when it comes to Jesus Christ, he was not
begotten at the virgin birth. He's eternally
begotten which we've talked about recently.
But he's all God because if
God is his Father, he's going to be just as much
God as God the Father is.
And he's eternally God the Son.
And so Jesus Christ when he
was here, he was 100%
God and he's 100%
man.
Now turn your Bible
to 1 Timothy chapter 2.
1 Timothy 2.
1 Timothy chapter 2.
In the Old Testament you have appearances
of God.
And the general term for an
appearance of God in the Old Testament
is called a theophany.
Okay?
Now of course the Bible says no one can see
the face of God the Father and live.
So when someone is speaking to God
face to face, when Jacob is wrestling
God in Genesis
18 where he's
speaking to Abraham in these examples,
it can't be God the Father
because no one can see the face of God the Father
and live. But the only begotten Son
which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared
him the Bible says. The only begotten Son of God
the Father. And so there's another term
called a Christophany
which is an Old Testament appearance
of the Son of God Jesus Christ.
Okay? So you have for example
in the Bible
Melchizedek.
My mind was blank.
Melchizedek in the Bible is an Old Testament appearance
of Jesus Christ, the Son of God
is an example. Probably the most famous
very important one, one the New Testament
mentions. Those are Old Testament
appearances. But see there's a difference
between Melchizedek
and Jesus Christ after the
virgin birth. You say,
why Brother Stuckey? Well what does it say about
Melchizedek? Without father,
without mother,
without descent, having neither
beginning of days nor end of life.
Because humanly speaking, he
had no beginning. He's eternal.
And he has no end. He's eternal.
He has no father, mother, earthly
here. Because here's the thing. I mean the Father
Jesus is God the Father. But earthly
speaking without father, also
without mother in the Old Testament. You say, why?
He has not been born of the Virgin Mary.
And so there's a difference. The Old Testament
I mean the Bible says flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God. So there is a difference
between Jesus Christ after the virgin
birth and an Old Testament appearance
of Jesus Christ. Jesus
Christ after the virgin birth, He's
100% God, 100%
man. In the Old Testament
a Christophany without father, without
mother. And I know I'm going deep.
I'm talking about the virgin birth. I want to go deep
because you've heard about the virgin birth every Christmas.
The only church service you went to growing
up was Christmas, right?
So you've heard the virgin birth a lot of times.
I've got to try to present new information.
Now
let me give you
some quotes from various religions
that have very weird views
about the virgin birth. Because
what we believe about the virgin birth
we can't comprehend this.
But the Bible clearly teaches
this. But there are so-called
religions and even so-called Christian
religions that they go away
from the virgin birth. And here's the thing.
The two foundational things about our
faith that you don't mess with
are the virgin birth
and the resurrection.
I mean, if somebody came
to you and they're like, you know what?
I love the new IFB. Man, I'm
post-trib, hard
preaching, soul winning,
King James only. There's just like one
thing I don't agree on. I don't agree on the virgin
birth. It's like, get out of here.
It's like, you're a heretic.
I mean, that's the one thing you don't
mess with.
And there are Christian
religions that mess with this.
The biggest is probably
Mormonism.
Here's what it says in Mormonism.
And it says here, Mormon apostle
Bruce McConkie, he was the most famous
Mormon author. He wrote a lot of books and their doctrine
and what they believe.
And perhaps the most explicit
denial of the virgin birth wrote,
Christ
was begotten by an immortal father
in the same
way
that mortal men are begotten
by mortal fathers.
Do you understand what he's saying?
He's saying that God
slept with Mary.
That's what they teach. Now here's
the thing. A lot of Mormons don't realize this
because the Mormons will claim they
believe in the virgin birth. And we'll explain why they
say that in a second.
And what they actually believe
is that God
slept with Mary. Hey, Joseph,
don't worry about marrying your wife.
It was just
God that slept with her.
That is the most perverted
and bizarre and weird
thing anyone could come up with.
That's coming out of the mind of a reprobate.
Who would even think of that?
That's weird.
It's disturbing. And yet,
that is what the Mormon Church teaches.
Now what's really bizarre
is that in the original days of Mormonism,
Joseph Smith and Brigham Young
and don't
I can't explain this to you
because it makes no sense. They taught
that Adam from Adam and Eve
in the book of Genesis is God.
And that Adam's the one who slept with Mary.
It's like
Adam is long dead. What are you talking
about? But somehow
they taught that Adam was God
and that he slept with Mary.
Just weird, just
bizarre and perverted.
But they'll claim they believe in the virgin birth.
And here's what it says from this article.
You might ask, how can Mormons
who believe this say that Christ was
born of a virgin?
This is done by changing the definition
of the word virgin. The Virgin Mary
did not have sexual relations with a mortal
man, they say, but instead was
impregnated by an immortal man.
Our Lord is the only
mortal person ever born to a virgin
because He is the only person who ever
had an immortal father. That is
bizarre. That's perverted.
That's
disturbing.
And not all Mormons believe this.
Actually, a lot of Mormons don't believe this
because they don't even know they teach this.
They think they believe in the virgin birth.
And no, you don't.
Because here's the thing, when you join a new
religion,
you're joining a new so-called Christian religion,
at the door they don't just tell you what they
believe because they're embarrassed by it.
They don't just say, well, here's our beliefs. We believe
that God slept with Mary.
Why? Because people would leave immediately.
It's like you throw a duck
in boiling water, it jumps out.
And the expression they say,
you put it in cold water and slowly heat it up,
it will boil itself to death. Now, by the way, that's
not actually true, but that's an expression.
The duck will also jump out when the water
gets hot. But it's a common expression,
and the idea is this,
it's like when you have a cult and something like
that, they're kind of ashamed
and embarrassed about what they believe, so they
kind of bring you along slowly.
You know what? I'm not embarrassed about
anything I believe about the Word of God.
In fact, we have a whole
doctrinal series where I make it very clear
what we believe. You say, why? I'm not embarrassed
like other Baptist pastors
about repentance,
repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
I don't need to hide what I believe.
Because if someone
disagrees and says, I don't want to go to your church,
I'd be like, well, wait a minute, one second. Just before you
leave, can you just give us ten minutes to try to
give you the Gospel since we're never going to see
you again? Because if they vehemently
disagree on that topic, they're not saved. That's
the problem, right?
Other than
the Mormons, here's another list
of various Christian religions that
deviate. The teaching
of oneness. I mean, even though the
Bible says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday,
today, and forever, they believe that
God turned into
Jesus, basically
manifest Himself as the Son. No, no, no.
We don't believe that because Jesus is eternally
the Son. And they believe
it takes place at the virgin birth.
There's a religion called Coptic Orthodox
in Egypt that there's millions and millions
of followers, a version of Orthodox,
and they believe that Jesus is created.
The Jehovah's Witnesses
believe Jesus is Michael the Archangel.
And in the Old Testament, Michael the Archangel
turns into Jesus Christ at
the virgin birth.
Martin Luther King, a famous holiday
in the U.S., Martin Luther King, Jr.,
he was a Baptist pastor
that vehemently denied every miracle
and denied the virgin birth of Jesus.
It's like, why are you a
Baptist pastor?
Right?
The last one I want to mention on this is
Islam. Because here's what's interesting
about Islam. Islam believes in the virgin
birth. They believe Jesus is the Messiah.
They believe Jesus is the
Christ. They obviously have no understanding of what
the Messiah or the Christ is, since they deny
Him being the Son of God and God. But
they believe in the virgin birth.
This past week, I was kind of curious, I wasn't sure
what the answer to this is. Do Muslims believe
Jesus is perfect?
I wasn't sure. They believe in
five primary prophets, and Jesus is one
of them, and Muhammad's the last. But I was curious,
do they believe He's perfect? Here's what's interesting,
they don't really answer that question.
They kind of avoid it. On websites, they're like,
well, you know, it's not really clear.
I mean, He's pure and holy
at His birth, but all babies
are pure and holy.
And it's like, do you believe He's perfect or not?
Now,
I'm sure there's Muslims that would tell you
and give you an honest answer, but I'm on an apologetics
website, they won't answer the question. Do you believe Jesus
is perfect or not? Well, here's the thing.
If you believe in the virgin birth, how
could you deny He's perfect?
Because who's His Father?
God. What sin
nature does He have? But of course,
they don't want to say that, because they say that,
they realize, well, that kind of makes it seem like
He's God if He's perfect. Because there's
none good but one that is God.
So they just kind of avoid the question.
They sort of imply He's a sinner without
saying it, because they don't have any verse to back
up what they believe in their scriptures.
Right? They don't want to say
it, because they don't have a good answer.
Here's the thing.
If you believe in the virgin birth,
the actual virgin birth as the Bible teaches,
that means Jesus
Christ is God. There's no way
around it, because He has no sin nature.
Sin is passed down from Father to Son
according to the Bible.
It started with Adam, and it gets passed down
from every father.
Who's the father of Jesus? God the Father.
Raised by Joseph,
Joseph did not beget
Jesus Christ.
And so Jesus Christ had
no sin, and there's none good but one
that is God. So the question is,
was Jesus good?
Well, everybody's going to say yes, because
in Him is no sin. Of course He's good.
Well, that means He's God. You cannot
say Jesus is good.
And when the Bible says there's none righteous,
well, obviously
Jesus is an exception, because He's God.
But no human being,
none of us are righteous.
There's none good but one
that is God. Jesus was not
denying He was God.
He was saying He was God.
The rich young rule that was
saying good master is like, wait a minute, how are you
calling me good master
if you don't believe I'm God? That doesn't
make any sense, because no man is good.
And this man didn't understand that he was guilty
and he needed a Savior, so Jesus is explaining
nobody's good. And isn't that
exactly what we do when we go soul winning?
Because when we go soul winning,
what I always recommend, what I do
is, you know what, all
of us deserve hell.
All of us are
guilty. I don't try to just pin the person and say, you're
a horrible person. I say, yeah, you know what, I've also
sinned. I also deserve hell.
Right? And Jesus is saying, hey, you know what,
there's none good but one
that is God. So first you need to understand
what it means to be good, which means to be perfect
according to the Bible, which none of us are.
And then you have to understand the nature
of Jesus Christ. You have to understand who God
is. 1 Timothy 2 verse 4,
who will have
all men to be saved and to come under the
knowledge of the truth. That is God's
will. Not everybody gets saved, but that is
His will. For there is
one God and one
mediator between God and men, the man Christ
Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all
to be testified in due time. The Bible
says there's one God, and we believe
that. We believe that God eternally exists in
three persons, but there's one God, and
there's one mediator
between God and men.
Why was Jesus Christ able
to be the mediator between God and men?
Because
100% God,
100% man.
I mean, the Bible says in Hebrews,
He was tempted in all points like
as we are, yet without sin. Wherefore
in all things that behooved Him to
be made like unto us.
He was 100% man.
And He's able to be the mediator. Why?
Because He's all God and all man.
And here's the thing. You say, well,
Brother Stuckey, I mean, Mary
is my mediatrix.
Right?
Here's the problem. She wasn't God.
Here's the problem. She was a sinner. This is why
she says, my soul hath rejoiced in God my Savior,
saying, I need a Savior too.
And in fact, the Bible mentions
her doing things that are wrong. I mean, she's a godly
She just won her poll
of the favorite woman in the Bible.
And you know what? She's arguably probably
the godliest woman that there is in the Bible.
There's probably a good chance
why she's the one who raised
Jesus Christ.
And she was the mom of Jesus Christ.
But she was a sinner.
She could not be a mediator.
By the way, you dead sure
better believe no Catholic priest
can be the mediator.
I mean, Mary was
a sinner, just like all of us,
but at least she wasn't a pedophile.
Right? Like a Catholic priest.
It's like, why would you go and confess your sins
to a Catholic priest?
Right? It's like, no, your mediator
is Jesus Christ. This is why when we pray,
we pray to God the Father in the name of
Jesus Christ. Right?
The Bible actually gives us that pattern.
It's not vain words we say. We say at the end,
in the name of Jesus. Why? Because that's the pattern
we have in the Bible. He's our mediator
when we speak directly to God the Father.
Go to Matthew 1. We'll close up.
Matthew 1.
Now, here's the thing you have to realize.
As I said in last week's sermon, there's four Gospels.
And John's kind of its own thing
because it kind of highlights different things.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke, there's a comparison.
There's a lot of information.
There's a lot of similar stories, similar parables,
I should say.
But the Bible highlights different things
and says things differently.
When you're reading through Matthew,
this doesn't mean that there's no other
information out there. Because
if we were to look at the book of Luke,
which we're not going to, for the sake of the fact
it's not in the book of Matthew, we're going to see
that the angel appears to Mary.
We're going to see her perspective.
So when you're reading Matthew, you know, realize
there's other stuff and other information
and maybe the book of Matthew's just not highlighting that.
Because the book of Matthew is primarily
focusing on Joseph and why,
as I said last week, when you're reading the genealogy
in Matthew, I think it's pretty clear
it's a genealogy of Joseph where it
highlights Mary and Luke because it's a genealogy
of Mary.
And so this is not the only
information, but what you're seeing is this.
We're seeing Joseph's perspective.
He's not having a conversation with Mary
about this. He doesn't know what's going on.
No, the angel's appearing to Joseph
and separately an angel appears on to Mary.
They're not communicating about this because
there's a long distance. They're married,
but they're not around each other.
And there are no cell phones.
It's a lot harder to send a letter
back in those days, right? I mean, it's just
like you can't just send an email or text
message or whatever. Matthew 1, verse
24, let's close up.
Then Joseph, being raised from sleep,
did as the angel of the Lord abid in him, and took
unto him his wife, and knew her not
till she had brought forth her firstborn son,
and he called his name Jesus.
Now, the Bible highlights Joseph here,
and quite honestly, Joseph's
not mentioned that much in the Bible.
I think a lot of us kind of wonder what happened
to Joseph. I mean, he passed away, you
presume, but when and how? The Bible
doesn't really tell us. But what I do want
to say about Joseph is that when we're
reading Matthew 1,
this is a man of great character.
No, he did not beget
Jesus Christ, but I think there's also a reason
why Joseph is the one that
raised Jesus Christ. This is a godly man.
You know, he shows a great wisdom
to think on these things. He doesn't want
to embarrass his wife. The Bible says he's a just
man. Not perfect, but he is a very godly
man, a very holy man.
And Mary, the mother of
Jesus Christ, and Joseph who raised
Jesus Christ, they're two very godly
people. There's a reason why God
chose them for that specific job of
raising the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's close
one word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father,
thank you for allowing us to be here today and just getting to see
what the Bible says about the virgin birth
and help us to realize what we believe about this
and the false doctrines that are out there and realize
it's very foundational to what we
believe as Bible-believing
Christians, and we can never question
the virgin birth. And yes, it is a miracle,
and no, we cannot fully understand it,
but we do believe it. We believe that Jesus
Christ is 100% God, 100%
man, and is the one person able
to be the mediator between God and man.
We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. For the last song, song number
180.
Song number 180 on your
hymnals.
Isn't the love of Jesus something
wonderful?
Come on.
There will never
be a sweeter story.
Ready on the first.
There will never be
a sweeter story.
Story of
the Savior's love divine.
Love that
broadly brought the realms of
glory.
Just to save a sinful soul
and quite love Jesus.
Isn't the love of Jesus
something wonderful?
Wonderful.
Isn't the love of Jesus
something wonderful?
Wonderful.
It is to be
on second
pathless as the universe
around me.
Reaching to the
part of the solar wave.
Save me,
keep me loving, love
about me.
That is what my heart
can truly say.
Isn't the love of Jesus
something wonderful?
Wonderful.
Isn't the love of Jesus
something wonderful?
Wonderful.
It is to be on the
last wave.
Love beyond our human love
preventing
love of God and Christ
how can it be?
This will be my
dream in every
thing.
Reaching to be love of
Jesus.
Wonderful.
Isn't the love of Jesus
something wonderful?
Wonderful.
It is to be on the
last wave.
Reaching to be love of
Jesus.
Wonderful.
Thank you.