("Pomp and Circumstance")
- All right, folks, welcome to Anchor Baptist Church.
It is about that time to get started this morning.
If you would go ahead and grab a hymnal
and turn to our first hymn, number 434,
"O Little Town of Bethlehem."
Hymn number 434, 434, "O Little Town of Bethlehem."
We'll sing there starting on the first.
♪ O little town of Bethlehem ♪
♪ How still we see thee lie ♪
♪ Above thy deep and dreamless sea ♪
♪ The silent stars go by ♪
♪ Yet in thy dark streets shine ♪
♪ And the everlasting light ♪
♪ The hopes and fears of all the years ♪
♪ Are met in thee tonight ♪
♪ For Christ is born of Mary ♪
♪ And gathered all above ♪
♪ While mortal sleep the angels ♪
♪ Keep their walk of wondering love ♪
♪ O morning stars together ♪
♪ Roping the holy word ♪
♪ And praises sing to God the King ♪
♪ And peace to men on earth ♪
♪ How silently, how silently ♪
♪ The wondrous gift is given ♪
♪ So God imparts to human hearts ♪
♪ The blessings of his hand ♪
♪ Though here may year is coming ♪
♪ But in this world of sin ♪
♪ Where these souls will receive him still ♪
♪ The dear Christ enters in ♪
♪ O holy child of Bethlehem ♪
♪ Descend to us, we pray ♪
♪ Cast out our sin and determine ♪
♪ Be born in us today ♪
♪ We hear the Christmas angels ♪
♪ The great glad tidings tell ♪
♪ O come to us, abide with us ♪
♪ Our Lord, Emmanuel ♪
- Amen, we'll open with a word of prayer
if you bow your heads with me.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day
for another day to gather together
and just sing out praises,
and especially during this season, Lord,
to just focus on the birth of your Son, Jesus Christ,
and all the great blessings
that that's imparted to us through faith.
I pray that you just be with us for the service,
that everything would be done decently and in order,
that you would open our ears to the message
that you've laid on our pastor's heart this morning.
These things we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
All right, for our next hymn,
turn back a page if you would to "A Way in a Manger,"
hymn number 433, "A Way in a Manger," 433.
(gentle music)
We'll sing there on the first.
♪ A way in a manger, no crib for a bed ♪
♪ The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head ♪
♪ The stars in the sky looked down where He lay ♪
♪ The little Lord Jesus fell asleep on the hay ♪
♪ The cattle are lowing, the baby awaits ♪
♪ But little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes ♪
♪ I love thee, Lord Jesus, look down from the sky ♪
♪ And stay by my cradle 'til morning is nigh ♪
♪ Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask thee to stay ♪
♪ Close by me forever and love me, I pray ♪
♪ Bless all the dear children in thy tender care ♪
♪ And take us to heaven to live with thee there ♪
(knocking)
- Good morning, everyone.
Welcome to Anchor Baptist Church.
This time we'll go through some announcements.
Just keep those hands up if you need a bulletin.
On the front is our Bible memory passage of the week,
Hebrews chapter six, verse 19.
And this is the theme verse of our church.
So if there's any verse you should memorize
throughout this one, this is definitely the one
to memorize great verse there,
which hope we have as an anchor of the soul.
And of course we know that's talking
about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Great verse there.
On the inside is our service times listed there.
10.30 a.m. on Sundays, 4.30 p.m. on Sundays,
and our Wednesday evening Bible study at seven o'clock p.m.
All of our soul winning times as well are listed there.
And those meet here at the church building.
And it's pretty cool the last two weekends in a row
of our church out soul winning,
we've met other soul winners out there.
So God is blessing Oklahoma City.
This is a great place to preach the gospel.
It's a place where God is sending laborers.
So definitely excited to preach the gospel here.
It's a great place to go soul winning.
Nursing home ministry schedule is listed there.
Brother Cameron preaching today, Brother Theodore next week.
So make note of that, guys.
Our Anchor Baptist Church statistics year to date,
537 salvations so far for the year.
That's a great number.
Keep up the great work for that.
And please be in prayer for Miss Whitney Reed,
our expecting lady of the church for her pregnancy.
And upcoming events, lots of events in December.
It's a great month to be in church for sure.
And there's even another one added as of this week.
December 20th is gonna be the ladies Christmas party.
There's some details down below if you'd like to read those.
December 21st is gonna be our Christmas soul winning push
on that Saturday soul winning rally.
Food is gonna be served at 9 a.m.
Soul winning rally is gonna start at 10.
December 25th, right after the evening service,
we are gonna have a cookie bake-off.
And I didn't put the details of that in the bulletin.
I probably will do that for this evening,
but I did send it in our signal group.
So if you have any questions, you can go read that
in our signal group or just talk to me.
Online giving is there with that QR code.
If you'd like to give online to our church,
you could scan that.
And on the back as always is our prayer list.
There's a new one added this week for Miss Remy.
So do be in prayer for her.
Also, it's that time of year where a lot of people
are getting sick on and off.
So just be praying for the health of our church as well,
for all of our kiddos as well.
And that's gonna be it for announcements this morning.
We'll go ahead and go to our third song.
All right, for our third song this morning,
turn if you would to 432, Angels from the Realms of Glory.
432, 432, Angels from the Realms of Glory.
We'll sing there on the first.
♪ Angels from the realms of glory ♪
♪ We are flight o'er all the earth ♪
♪ He who sang creation's story ♪
♪ Thou proclaimed Messiah's birth ♪
♪ Come and worship, come and worship ♪
♪ Worship Christ the newborn King ♪
♪ Shepherds in the field abiding ♪
♪ Watching o'er your flocks by night ♪
♪ God with men is now residing ♪
♪ Yonder shines the infant light ♪
♪ Come and worship, come and worship ♪
♪ Worship Christ the newborn King ♪
♪ Saints leave your contemplation ♪
♪ Brighter visions beam afar ♪
♪ Seek the great desire of nations ♪
♪ He hath seen his natal star ♪
♪ Come and worship, come and worship ♪
♪ Worship Christ the newborn King ♪
♪ Saints before he alter vending ♪
♪ Watching long in hope and fear ♪
♪ Suddenly the Lord descending ♪
♪ In his temple shall appear ♪
♪ Come and worship, come and worship ♪
♪ Worship Christ the newborn King ♪
- And good singing this morning.
As the offering plates are being passed,
turn, if you would, to Luke chapter number two.
Luke chapter number two.
(gentle music)
We're in Luke chapter one.
Luke chapter one.
For as many have taken in hand to set in forth
in order a decoration of those things
which are most surely believed among us,
even as they delivered them unto us,
which from the beginning were eyewitnesses
and ministers of the word,
it seemed good to me also having had perfect understanding
of all things from the very first
to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theopolis.
But thou mightest know the certainty of those things
wherein thou has been instructed.
There was in the days of Herod, the King of Judea,
a certain priest named Zacharias
of the course of Abiah and his wife,
was of the daughters of Aaron and her name was Elizabeth.
And they were both righteous before God,
walking in all the commandments
and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
And they had no child because that Elizabeth was barren
and they both were now well stricken in years.
And it came to pass while he executed the priest's office
before God in the order of his course,
according to the custom of the priest's office,
his lot was to burn incense
when he went into the temple of the Lord.
And a whole multitude of the people were praying
without at the time of incense.
And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord
standing in the right side of the altar of incense.
And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled
and fear fell upon him.
And the angel said unto him, fear not Zacharias,
for thy prayer is heard and thy wife Elizabeth
shall bear thee a son and thou shall call his name John.
And thou shalt have joy and gladness
and many shall rejoice at his birth.
For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord
and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink.
And he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost
even from his mother's womb.
And many of the children of Israel
shall he turn to the Lord their God and he shall go before him
in the spirit and power of Elias
to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children
and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just
and make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
And Zacharias said unto the angel,
whereby shall I know this?
For I am an old man and my wife well stricken in years.
And the angel answering said unto him,
I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God.
I am sent to speak unto thee and to show thee these things,
show thee these glad tidings.
And behold, thou shalt be dumb and not able to speak
until the day that these things shall be performed
because thou believeth not my words which shall be fulfilled
in their season.
And the people waited for Zacharias
and marveled that he tarried so long in the temple.
And when he came out, he could not speak unto them.
And they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple
where he beckoned unto them and remained speechless.
And it came to pass that as soon as the days
of his ministration were accomplished,
he departed in his own house.
And after those days, his wife Elizabeth conceived
and hid herself five months saying,
thus hath the Lord dealt with me
in the days wherein he looked on me
to take away my reproach among men.
And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God
unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth.
To a virgin, espoused to a man whose name was Joseph
of the house of David and the virgin's name was Mary.
And the angel came in unto her and said,
hail, thou are highly favored.
The Lord is with thee, bless art thou among women.
And when she saw him, he was troubled at his saying
and cast in her mind what manner of salutation
it should be.
And the angel said unto her, fear not, Mary,
for thou hast found favor with God.
And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb
and bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name Jesus.
He shall be great and shall be called the son of the highest
and the Lord God shall give unto him
the throne of his father David.
And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever
and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
Then said Mary unto the angel, how shall this be?
Seeing I know not a man.
And the angel answered and said unto her,
the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee
and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee.
Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee
shall be called the son of God.
And behold, thy cousin Elizabeth,
she hath also conceived a son in her old age.
And this is the sixth month with her
who was called barren.
For with God nothing is impossible.
And Mary said, behold, the handmaid of the Lord,
be it unto me according to thy word.
And the angel departed from her.
And Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country
with haste into a city of Judah.
And entered into the house of Zacharias
and saluted Elizabeth.
And it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard
the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb
and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost.
And she spake out with a loud voice and said,
blessed art thou among women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
And whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord
should come to me?
For lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation
sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.
And blessed is she that believed,
for there shall be a performance of those things
which were told her from the Lord.
Mary said, my soul that magnify the Lord
and my spirit hath rejoiced in God, my Savior.
For he hath regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden
for behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
For he that is mighty hath done to me great things
and holy is his name.
And his mercy is on them that fear him
from generation to generation.
He hath showed strength with his arm
and hath scattered the proud
in the imagination of their hearts.
He hath put down the mighty from their seats
and exalted them of low degree.
He hath filled the hungry with good things
and the rich he hath sent away empty.
He hath opened his servant Israel
in remembrance of his mercy.
And he spake to our fathers, to Abraham
and to his seed forever.
And Mary abode with her about three months
and returned to her own house.
Now Elizabeth's full time came that she should be delivered
and she brought forth a son and her neighbors
and her cousins heard how the Lord
had showed great mercy upon her and they rejoiced with her.
And it came to pass that on the eighth day
they came to circumcise the child
and they called him Zacharias after the name of his father.
And his mother answered and said, not so,
but he shall be called John.
And they said unto her, this is none of thy kindred,
that there is none of thy kindred
that is called by this name.
And they made signs to his father
how he could have him called.
And he asked for a writing table
and wrote saying his name is John.
And they marveled all.
And his mouth was opened immediately
and his tongue loose and he spake and praised God.
And fear came upon all that dwelt round about him.
And all these sayings were noised about
throughout all the hill country of Judea.
And all they that heard him laid them up in their ears
saying, what manner of child shall this be?
And the hand of the Lord was with him.
And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost
and prophesied saying, blessed be the Lord God of Israel
for he hath visited and redeemed his people
and hath raised up a horn of salvation
for us in the house of his servant David.
As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets
which have been since the world began
that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all that hate us
to perform the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
the oath which he swear to our father Abraham
that he would grant unto us that which being delivered
out of the hand of our enemies
might serve him without fear
and holiness and righteousness before him
all the days of our life.
And thou, child, shall be called the prophet of the highest
for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord
to prepare his ways to give knowledge of salvation
unto his people by the redemption of their sins
through the tender mercy of our God
whereby the day spring from on high hath visited us
to give light to them that sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death
to guide our feet into the way of peace
and the child grew and waxed strong in spirit
and was in the deserts till the day
of his showing unto Israel.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we're thankful to be gathered today
today in the house for the sake that you fill absolutely.
Your spirit, Lord, help us to gain understanding,
wisdom from the preaching of your word.
I think help us to do distractions to a minimum.
And do things right, amen.
- Amen, all right.
Well, we are in Luke chapter number one
and let's read verse number 26.
The Bible says, "And in the sixth month,
"the angel Gabriel was sent from God
"unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth."
Now, just to give you some context
of where we're at in this story,
of course, there is a man named Zacharias
and his wife, Elizabeth, who they had been barren
most of their life and God allowed Elizabeth to conceive.
In their old age, Gabriel goes and visits them
and tells them that they're gonna have a child.
And because Zacharias kind of answered back
with a little bit of doubt,
the angel caused him to be dumb,
meaning that he could not speak basically
until the day those things were performed.
So when we're here in verse number 26,
when it says, "And in the sixth month,"
it's talking about the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy.
So she's pretty far along in her pregnancy.
We're in the sixth month and during that sixth month,
it says, "The angel Gabriel was sent from God
"unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth."
And then shortly we're gonna be introduced
to the story of basically the virgin birth,
what's referred to as the virgin birth.
And though it's not Christmas today,
it's not Christmas this week,
it is something that is just on my heart a lot lately
because it's the Christmas season.
And so I wanna preach a sermon this morning
called the Virgin Birth, the Virgin Birth.
This is a very important doctrine
and also a very just amazing story.
When we read it, it's really powerful truths.
And I find myself thinking about this this time of year.
I wanna give you a couple of thoughts this morning
regarding to this story.
And number one, Mary was blessed by God.
Mary was blessed by God.
Look at verse 26, again, it says,
"And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel
"was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth
"to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph
"of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary."
So here, we're introduced to the character Mary.
And the Bible tells us that she was espoused
to her husband, Joseph.
And basically, it's just saying that they were engaged.
But the Bible seems to indicate that the espousal back then
was like a higher level of engagement
than we have today in our society.
Because even if someone was just engaged or espoused
at this time, they would have to literally have a bill
of divorcement to end that engagement.
So this was a higher level of engagement than we have.
She was espoused to her husband,
but they had not yet consummated the marriage
because the Bible says that she is a virgin.
And you know, being that, especially this culture,
this time, if she was espoused to her husband,
but she had not yet consummated the marriage,
I'm guessing that she's probably a teenager.
That's probably the age that I think that Mary was.
Probably 17, 18, something around there.
That's probably the age that Mary was around this time.
Verse 28 says, "And the angel came in unto her and said,
"Hail, thou that art highly favored.
"The Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women."
And what I want you to notice from this verse
is that the angel comes and tells her,
hey, you are highly favored, you are blessed.
But notice what the angel does not say.
The angel does not say, hey, Mary, you are a blessing, right?
Because Mary is the recipient of blessing in this story.
Because many people today, the Catholic Church,
they look at Mary, and when they look at the story
of the birth of Jesus Christ,
or the conception of a virgin by the Holy Ghost,
and they don't look at the story
through the lens of glorifying God,
or glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ,
they look at the story through the lens of glorifying Mary,
which is idolatry, okay?
Because the angel comes to her and says,
hey, you are highly favored, you are blessed.
It's not that Mary is the blessing, all right?
Look at verse number 29.
"And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying."
Now, usually, whenever anyone has an interaction
with an angel in the Bible, they're troubled, they're scared,
because angels don't really look like
what you see in the Hallmark movies,
or cards, or something like that.
I mean, you read Ezekiel chapter one,
they look pretty terrifying.
Now, I don't know exactly how Gabriel
would have looked in this situation,
but the saying troubled her, all right?
She was kind of scared,
she was kind of thinking about these things in her heart.
And it says, "And cast in her mind
what manner of salutation this should be."
You know, Mary's just a humble, godly teenager,
and all of a sudden, Gabriel, one of the biggest angels
as far as just reputation and power and might,
all of a sudden, Gabriel's just going to this little girl,
basically, and just saying,
hail, thou that art highly favored,
and basically saying that she is blessed by God.
That's got to take her aback a little bit.
I mean, wouldn't you be taken aback?
No matter who you are in this room,
if an angel came to you and addressed you like that,
you'd be kind of shocked, right?
And here's this humble girl in a small town,
all of a sudden getting the angel coming to her
and saying that, she's kind of casting in her mind
and thinking about, okay, why did this guy
just greet me like this?
This is strange, this doesn't make sense.
Verse 30, "And the angel said unto her,
fear not, 'cause she's scared.
Mary, for thou hast found favor with God.'"
You know, here's the truth about Mary.
Mary was a great, godly woman.
Mary is a great example to look up to
as a woman that was humble and full of faith
and just a good person.
But unfortunately today, we kind of have to preach
about the dangers of going too far with that
because so many people do engage
in what's known as Mariolatry.
This is just idolatry of Mary.
Now, I wanna read this excerpt I found
from, this is the Second Vatican Council,
the dogmatic constitution of the church.
So this is an official document of the Catholic Church
from a meeting that took place in 1964,
where they clarify their doctrine regarding Mary.
This is what they said.
"This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace
continues uninterruptedly from the consent
which she loyally gave at the annunciation
and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross
until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect.
Taken up to heaven, she did not lay aside
this saving office, but by her manifold intercession
continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation."
That is the official doctrine of the Catholic Church
that Mary holds to this day a saving office
that she did not lay aside.
She continues to bring the gifts of eternal salvation.
Let me tell you what that is.
That's blasphemous is what that is.
That's idolatry.
Don't let Catholics fool you and say,
"Oh, we don't worship Mary.
We just adore Mary.
We just venerate Mary."
It's like, no, your doctrine says that Mary brings salvation,
that she has a saving office.
Says by her maternal charity,
she cares for the brethren of her son
who still journey on earth,
surrounded by dangers and difficulties
until they are led into their blessed home.
So, you know, according to them, Mary's up in heaven
and she's caring about all of us down on earth
who are struggling through life
and going through trials and difficulties,
which is why Catholics literally pray to Mary
to help them get through their struggles
and dangers in life.
Oh, but you'll worship Mary.
You just pray to her though.
You just kneel before statues of her,
but you don't worship Mary, sure.
Therefore, the blessed virgin is invoked in the church
under the titles of advocate, helper,
benefactress and mediatrix.
So the Bible, or not the Bible, good night.
This stupid document literally teaches
that she is a mediator or a mediatrix
that stands between you and God.
Mary is the mediator according to official Catholic doctrine.
But they clarify, they say,
this, however, is so understood
that it neither takes away anything
nor adds anything to the dignity
and efficacy of Christ, the one mediator.
It's like, well, you can't say Christ is the one mediator.
You just told us that Mary's a mediatrix.
I mean, why would you have to make that stupid clarification?
It's because you were just downgrading Christ.
You were just lowering him and exalting his human mother,
saying that she has an office of salvation,
that she's bringing forth the gifts of salvation,
that she is the mediatrix between us and God.
Oh, but we don't wanna take anything away from Christ.
It's like, yes, you do.
Your doctrine absolutely takes away from Christ.
And this is a blasphemous doctrine.
There's a lot of well-meaning people that are just ignorant,
but look, it is blasphemous to pray to Mary.
It's blasphemous to have idols of her or anything like that.
Go to Matthew chapter 12, if you would, Matthew chapter 12.
1 Timothy 2.5 says, "For there is one God and one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."
Yes, this doctrine does take away
from the glory of Jesus Christ,
because the Bible says there's one mediator.
That is the Son of God.
He is the one that mediates between us and the Father.
But here, I wanna show you in Matthew 12
that even Jesus himself, who carnally was the Son of Mary,
downplayed the significance of Mary.
Even Jesus downplayed her significance.
Look at Matthew 12, 46.
The Bible says, "While he yet talked to the people,
behold, his mother and his brethren stood
without desiring to speak with him."
So that's talking about Mary.
"Then one said unto him, behold, thy mother and thy brethren
stand without desiring to speak with thee."
Now, I don't know about you and me.
If my mother is wanting to get my attention,
I'm probably gonna stop what I'm doing
and give her my attention, right, 'cause she's my mom.
But notice, Jesus' attitude is different,
and I think God did this for a reason.
Verse 48 says, "But he answered and said unto him,
that told him, 'Who is my mother, and who are my brethren?'"
Now, that's not something that we would really say, right?
But that's because we're not God in the flesh.
Here's the truth.
Jesus Christ is the creator of Mary.
Jesus Christ is the one who created all things.
By him were all things made.
And without him was not anything made.
That was made, the Bible says.
So he's way above Mary.
And I'm sure he was respectful to his mom.
And we know that he did obey his parents.
We know that Jesus never sinned.
But Jesus is not gonna sit here
and just cater to the needs of his mother,
because Jesus is higher than his mother.
Jesus is the God of Mary.
Mary's not the mediator.
Jesus is the mediator.
Verse 49, "And he stretched forth his hand
toward his disciples and said, 'Behold, my mother
and my brethren.'"
He's saying, "Hey, who takes priority are the disciples of me.
And if my mom wants my attention,
you know what she should be doing?
She should be here listening to what I'm saying."
Because when Jesus is speaking,
that's more important than what Mary wants.
Now Catholics would be shocked and horrified
to know that Jesus actually said, "Hey, who even is Mary?"
That's literally what he said.
Who is my mom?
Hey, you know who I care about?
The people listening to my preaching.
Now that would sound prideful coming from us, right?
But he's God.
He's the one that made Mary and all these people.
Verse 50, "And whosoever shall do the will of my father,
which is in heaven, the same as my brother
and sister and mother."
He's saying, "Look, my physical mom, Mary,
is not on some sort of special high playing field
where she has all this adoration and veneration given to her."
He's saying, "Anyone could be my mom.
Any lady that serves God and wants to be a disciple,
she's the same as Mary," is what he's saying.
And he's not saying that Mary's bad.
The Bible doesn't paint Mary as being bad,
but good night, why are you worshiping Mary
when this was the attitude that Jesus had?
It does not make any sense.
Go to Deuteronomy chapter 27, because here's the thing.
It's a shame when God gives us stories like this
in the Bible, God gives us the Christmas story.
And you know, in the United States,
it's very common to celebrate Christmas as a holiday.
But here's the thing, God didn't give us all of these things
so that we could take this time of year
to just worship his mother, to just worship Mary.
The point of the story of the virgin birth,
the point of the story of the nativity in the manger
is to get us to glorify and worship God,
is to get us to see, wow, what a great God
that would humble himself, who was rich in heaven,
would come down to this earth as a little baby
that had to be taken care of, that had to be breastfed,
that had to have his diapers changed,
so that he could live a life
to where he could suffer for us and die for us,
and we could be saved through faith in him.
That's what we should be thinking about,
not like, wow, Mary's so great.
Yeah, Mary is great, but she's nothing in comparison
to her son, Jesus Christ.
Now look at verse 15 of Deuteronomy 27.
The Bible says, "Cursed be the man
"that maketh any graven or molten image,
"an abomination unto the Lord,
"the work of the hands of the craftsman,
"and put it in a secret place."
And all the people will answer and say, amen.
The Bible teaches that if you make an idol,
you are cursed of God.
The Bible says that that idol is an abomination to God,
and yet all over our city and all over this country,
you'll have Catholic churches,
and sadly, even people that aren't Catholics,
put out a nativity scene of idols of Mary,
idols of the shepherds, idols of Jesus Christ,
when God says the people that make those things,
they're cursed of God.
People that bow down to those things
are an abomination unto God.
You know, someone needs to lovingly wake up
the Catholic today and say, hey, I know you mean well.
I know you're just trying to do what you think is right,
but God is not pleased with your Mary statue.
God doesn't like your nativity scene.
It's an abomination to Him.
And look, there's nothing wrong with a Christmas tree.
There's nothing wrong with lights,
but we're never gonna have a nativity scene in this church
because it is idolatry.
And any image of Jesus Christ or of His mother
is blasphemous to God.
Go back to Luke chapter one, Luke chapter number one.
So, you know, we have to say all that
to get us in the right mindset
because so many people do worship Mary,
but on the other side, because we know that that's too far,
we're not in here as Baptists worshiping Mary,
you know, it's safe to say in here
that it is true that Mary was highly favored with God
and that Mary was a great lady.
And you know, Mary kind of gets a bad rep
and it's probably annoying that so many times
we have to like say all this negative stuff regarding her,
but it's just to balance out the false doctrine.
But the truth is, Mary was blessed by God.
Mary was a great person and Mary was special in a way.
Now, why though?
Well, look at verse 38.
It says this, and Mary said, notice what she says.
This is so important.
Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
Be it unto me according to thy word.
And the angel departed from her.
Why was Mary special?
Why was Mary someone that was used greatly by God
and who was blessed by God?
Because Mary was the type of person
that just said to the Lord,
hey, behold the handmaid of the Lord.
Be it unto me according to thy word.
Whatever your will is, God,
whatever it is you want me to go through,
I'm willing to go through it.
And you know, she probably didn't fully understand
everything that was gonna happen at this point.
But I mean, think about a teenage girl getting pregnant
and carrying a child and everyone around you
probably thinks a certain way about you.
And I mean, you can't really blame them
'cause it's the only time in human history
that this happened and the only time it ever will happen.
So, you know, no one's gonna fool me
if you claim this in the future, okay?
But look, that had to have been kind of, you know,
bearing shame.
People probably mocked at her.
People probably called her a whore.
People called her bad names and none of it was true.
She was a godly woman.
She was a woman that was submitting to God,
that she just said, hey, Lord, I'm here.
Behold the handmaiden of the Lord.
Whatever it is your word wants me to do, I will do it.
Go to 1 Thessalonians chapter four.
1 Thessalonians chapter four.
1 Thessalonians four, verse three says,
for this is the will of God, even your sanctification,
that ye should abstain from fornication.
That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel
in sanctification and honor.
Not in the lust of concupiscence,
even as the Gentiles which know not God.
That no man go beyond and defraud his brother
in any matter, because that the Lord is the avenger
of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.
For God hath not called us unto uncleanness,
but unto holiness.
You know, why is it that of all the ladies
that God could have chosen, why did he choose Mary
to carry the Lord Jesus Christ in her womb?
One reason is because she was just humble.
She was just ready to serve God.
You know, be it unto me according to thy word.
But also Mary was a clean vessel.
Mary was someone that had sanctified herself,
that had separated herself from the sins of this world.
Of course she wasn't sinless,
but the Bible talks about how we should know
we should keep our bodies in sanctification and honor,
and how do we do that by abstaining from fornication.
And the fact that she was a virgin,
obviously proves that she had done this.
And look, it can't be stressed enough in 2024 America
to young people how important it is to God
that you abstain from fornication.
Because the truth is that God can use people
with a sordid past.
God can use people that has all sorts of problems
in their past.
But you know what, he was only gonna use one woman
to carry the Lord Jesus Christ, and that was the virgin.
He's not gonna use the woman that was loose.
He's not gonna use the woman that had committed fornication
or adultery, anything like that.
No, this person had to be a virgin.
This had to be someone who had possessed their vessel
in sanctification and in honor.
And that's one of the reasons why Mary was blessed,
why she was special.
Go to 2 Timothy chapter two, 2 Timothy two.
You know, we have to understand this principle
that it is true that no matter what you have done,
if you're saved, God does want to use you.
You know, you should not get discouraged or down
or feel like quitting on serving God
because you have some sort of bad past.
You know, you look at guys like the apostle Paul,
who he talks about how he used to be a persecutor
of the church and injurious, and he did all these bad things,
but basically he did it ignorantly and unbelief,
and God showed mercy to him as an example to us
that come after seeing like, hey, look, a guy like Paul,
God had mercy on him, God used him greatly,
God can use us too.
And we should always keep that same mentality
and not every time we sin, every time we mess up,
just say like, well, I'm too dirty, I'm too sinful,
I can't be used by God.
But on the other hand though, what you have to realize
is that the cleaner you are, the more sanctified you are,
the more that God can use you,
the more great works you can do for him.
See, look, everyone could be a soul winner, right?
That's something that everyone could do,
it doesn't matter what's in your past,
you should be a soul winner, that's God's will for you.
But there's other things in the Bible, for example,
like being a deacon or being a pastor,
these things have qualifications
where if you have messed up in that area,
that's off the table for you.
And it's like God's looking down from heaven saying,
okay, here's the qualifications for a young lady
to carry the Lord Jesus Christ, she's gotta be a virgin.
I'm sure there was other saved girls in Israel at that time
that, you know, they love God,
they had made some mistakes in their past
and God could still use those ladies for other things,
but you know what he can't use them for?
They can't be the virgin that carries Jesus Christ.
And so God is more likely to use a clean vessel.
Look at 2 Timothy chapter two, verse 20.
The Bible says, but in a great house,
there are not only vessels of gold and of silver,
but also of wood and of earth,
and some to honor and some to dishonor.
If a man therefore purge himself from these,
he shall be a vessel unto honor,
sanctified and notice and meet for the master's use
and prepared unto every good work.
And then it's gonna explain, how do we do that?
How do we get sanctified?
How do we purge ourselves from these?
Flee also youthful lusts.
What's that?
Fornication.
What's that?
Drunkenness.
What's that?
Drugs, youthful lusts.
But follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace
with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
How can you be used the most by God?
What is your highest potential as a Christian in life?
It's when you purge yourself from these things.
See, God can use you no matter what,
but to reach your highest potential spiritually,
you have to purge yourself from your sins.
We're not talking about sinless perfection.
We're not talking about earning our way to heaven,
but we are talking about saying, I already am saved
and I need to get the sin out of my life.
I need to repent of drunkenness.
I need to repent of fornication.
Or better yet, I need to never go down that road
to begin with.
I know what's right.
I know what the Bible says.
I've heard the preaching.
You know what?
I'm just deciding I'm not gonna do it.
And you know, this is a decision that young people
need to have settled in their heart before they start dating.
You know, don't wait till you start falling in love
with a girl and you start hanging out with a girl.
Guys, to think, huh, I wonder if I'm gonna commit
fornication or not.
It's like, you better have just settled that way before
and make not provision for the lust of the flesh
and have people help you and have chaperones
and have safeguards in your life,
rather than just like, well, I'll just,
I'll think about it when the time comes.
No, you're gonna be thinking about one thing
that's the wrong decision, okay?
You have to settle that in your heart way before
you ever go down that road.
You see, I don't just have alcohol in my house
so that I could just wake up and say like,
I wonder if I'll just feel like drinking someday
or if I just don't feel like drinking someday.
It's like, I'm not even gonna have that temptation
in my house ever.
And so I don't have to like wait on my flesh
if it's strong that day or if my spirit's strong.
It's just, no, we're not gonna make provision
for the flesh, okay?
And so we need to be constantly purging ourselves,
making ourselves a vessel into honor
because that's the way we're gonna be used greatly by God.
Go to John chapter four.
Now here's the thing though.
Like I mentioned, you can still be used by God
if you've done bad things in the past,
if you have major sins.
And I wanna show you some examples of people,
specifically women that God has used greatly
who did have sordid pasts.
One is the woman at the well in John chapter four.
Let's start reading verse 15.
The woman saith unto him, "Sir, give me this water
that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw."
Jesus saith unto her, "Go call thy husband and come hither."
The woman answered and said, "I have no husband."
Jesus said unto her, "Thou hast well said,
I have no husband, for thou hast had five husbands."
Ooh, he's calling her out, right?
"And he whom thou now hast is not thy husband,
in that sets thou truly."
That had to be embarrassing for her, right?
Oh, oh, I don't have a husband.
Oh yeah, you're right, 'cause you've had five.
And the dude that you're with right now
isn't even your husband.
I mean, imagine Jesus calling you out on that.
That had to have been pretty shameful.
I mean, this is not the Virgin Mary right here, okay?
This is not someone who had been living a sanctified life,
pleasing to God.
This person is in serious sin.
I mean, this person is just shacked up with some random dude
and has had five husbands.
I mean, this is like the woman Donald Trump or something.
Just like dude after dude after dude.
I mean, she is not living a godly life.
And her response is hilarious.
"The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive
that thou art a prophet."
She kind of just takes it, right?
She doesn't even really get mad.
Oh, how dare you call that to me.
She's just like, wow, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
Verse 28, "The woman then left her water pot
and noticed what she did and went her way into the city
and saith to the man, 'Come, see a man
which told me all things that ever I did
is not this the Christ.'"
Now that's the right response
when you get called out for your sin.
That's the right response when you've been living
in the pig pen, you've been messing up,
you've been living a wicked life, and you know what?
God calls it out through his word,
or in this case, Jesus Christ calls it out to your face.
You know what she does?
She doesn't sulk and say, I'm worthless,
I can't be used by God, I'm just gonna quit.
You know what she does?
She just immediately starts preaching the gospel.
And you know, I've heard pastors teach that,
you know, you shouldn't go soul winning
if you've recently had sin in your life.
You should like clean up your life first
before you get back out soul winning.
Is that really what she was doing?
I mean, she's actively living with another dude.
And what does she start doing?
She starts preaching the gospel and people get saved.
People end up believing on Christ.
And look, it does not matter how sinful your life is,
you should always preach the gospel.
It doesn't matter if you're in jail
as a result of your sins, preach the gospel in jail.
It doesn't matter if you're in the pig pen of life
because you're suffering so bad
from the consequences of your sin,
still preach the gospel.
God always wants you to preach the gospel.
Go to Mark 16, let's look at another lady
with a rough pass that Jesus used.
Mark chapter 16 verse nine says,
"Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week,
he appeared first to Mary Magdalene,
notice out of whom he had cast seven devils.
And she went and told them that had been with him
as they mourned and wept."
This lady had had seven demons possessing her
in times past in her life.
And the Bible doesn't tell us exactly why,
but I mean, you just read the Old Testament
and you just see people in life.
Usually it's people that are messing around with witchcraft.
Usually it's people messing around with necromancy
and all this sort of pagan occultish stuff.
That's likely what her background was.
She had seven devils cast out of her
and noticed that she was the first one to come
where the Lord Jesus Christ had risen.
Go back to Luke chapter one and I'll read for you.
Hebrews 11, 31 says, "By faith, the harlot Rahab
perish not with them that believe not
when she had received the spies with peace."
We see another great lady that God used, Rahab who?
The harlot.
And even in the hall of faith in Hebrews 11,
the Bible still refers to her as the harlot.
I mean, she did not get to live that down.
She's eternally recorded in Hebrews 11 as Rahab the harlot.
Yet God still used her, right?
She's still in the hall of faith.
It's not like God doesn't love you
if you've messed up greatly in your life.
It's not like God's not ready to forgive you and use you.
But here's the thing, though God can use people
with a bad past, there's only one type of person
that God can use to carry the Lord Jesus Christ
and it's a virgin.
That's why Mary was chosen is because she was sanctified,
she was living a godly life, she was a virgin.
You know, that should make us think like,
hey, I don't want God to just constantly
just be giving me tons of grace
so that I could just do the least amount of possible.
I wanna do the greatest I possibly can for Him.
I wanna reach whatever my greatest potential is,
whatever that looks like for you,
how are you gonna reach that?
It's gonna be by living a sanctified life.
Now, Luke chapter one, number two this evening
or this morning, let's talk about the prophecy
of Jesus's birth.
Luke one verse 30.
"And the angel said unto her, fear not, Mary,
"for thou hast found favor with God.
"And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb
"and bring forth a son and shalt call his name Jesus."
Verse 32, "He shall be great."
Amen to that.
I mean, he shall be great.
That's an understatement right there.
"And shall be called the son of the highest
"and the Lord God shall give unto him
"the throne of his father David
"and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever
"and of his kingdom there shall be no end."
That has to be quite a surreal birth announcement
for a young lady.
And you know, let's think about it.
Usually ladies are really excited
when they get pregnant, right?
Especially they're first, they're excited,
they're ready, they're happy to have this child.
But imagine Mary's first child announcement.
"Hey, Mary, you're not just having a child.
"That would be cool enough.
"That would be exciting enough.
"No, Mary, you're gonna have a child
"that's gonna be called the son of the highest.
"You're gonna have a child that says
"and the Lord God shall give unto him
"the throne of his father David
"and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever
"and of his kingdom there shall be no end."
You know, here's the amazing thing
about the birth announcement to Mary
is that Mary wasn't just being told,
"Hey, Mary, I'm an angel from God.
"I just wanna let you know that you're having a child."
There's people in the Bible
that have had that happen to them.
They were excited, they were happy.
Hannah wrote a song about it and sang, right?
But the angel's coming to Mary
and you know what the angel's telling Mary?
"Hey, Mary, just so you know,
"who's gonna be in your womb is the son of God,
"is God Almighty.
"That is who you're about to give birth to."
Wow, that has to be surreal.
Could you imagine being a teenage girl
who had never known a man, a virgin,
and all of a sudden just the angel's coming to you
telling you, "Oh, this is who you're giving birth to.
"It's gonna be Jesus Christ."
Now go to John chapter five.
And of course, this is the one
of the most foundational doctrines of Christianity
is that Jesus is the son of God.
Jesus is the son of God.
Now the Muslims, they deny this.
They don't believe Jesus is the son of God.
They think he was just a good prophet.
And what I'm gonna show you is that when the Bible says
that Jesus is the son of God,
what that means is that he is God.
And so that is who Mary is going to give birth to,
is God in the flesh.
Talk about surreal.
John five verse 16.
"And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus
"and sought to slay him
"because he had done these things on the Sabbath day.
"But Jesus answered them,
"'My father worketh hitherto, and I work.'
"Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him."
Notice, "Because he had not only broken the Sabbath,
"but said also that God was his father
"making himself equal with God."
See, when Jesus said that he was the son of God,
when people called him the son of God and he accepted that,
the Jews rightly understood what he meant by that.
He wasn't just saying how we would think of a son
and a father where, yeah, there's similarities between them,
but there's obviously a massive difference.
And I am not my children, my children are not me, right?
But the Jews understood that when Jesus was saying
that he was the son of God,
he was making himself equal with God.
And they viewed that as blasphemy,
but it's not blasphemy because it's true,
because he is God.
Go to John 10, John chapter number 10.
John 10 verse 27 says, "My sheep hear my voice,
"and I know them and they follow me,
"and I give unto them eternal life
"and they shall never perish.
"Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
"My father which gave them me is greater than all,
"and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand.
"I and my father are one."
Notice 31, "Then the Jews took up stones again
"to stone him.
"Jesus answered them,
"Many good works have I showed you for my father.
"For which of those do you stone me?
"The Jews answered him saying,
"For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy.
"And because that thou being a man makest thyself God."
And so look, sometimes out soul winning Muslims
will try to tell you, well, Jesus never claimed to be God.
Well, it seems like no one around him in his life
got that memo because all the Jews were constantly wanting
to kill him because he made himself God.
Because him being the son of God means that he is God.
Verse 34, "Jesus answered them,
"Is it not written in your law?
"I said, ye are gods, referring to rulers.
"If he called them gods unto whom the word of God came,
"and the scripture cannot be broken,
"say ye of him whom the father hath sanctified
"and sent into the world, thou blasphemest.
"Because I said, I am the son of God."
See, Jesus said that he was the son of God.
Verse 37, "If I do not the works of my father,
"believe me not.
"But if I do, though ye believe not me,
"believe the works that ye may know and believe
"that the father is in me and I in him."
You could just look at the things that Jesus
was producing in his ministry.
You could look at the works that he was doing
and just realize that, hey, no man can do this power
except he was God.
No one can just raise the dead without the power of God.
No one can be walking on water without the power of God.
He was doing the works of his father
because he's the son of God, which means that he is God.
Go to John 8:58, flip back to John 8:58.
I'll read for you Hebrews 1:8 says,
"But unto the son he saith,
"Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever."
Even God the Father said to the son, called him God.
God the Father called Jesus Christ God.
He said, "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever."
John 8:58 says this, "Jesus said unto them,
"Verily, verily, I say unto you,
"before Abraham was, I am."
See Jesus was not a created being.
Jesus was not some spiritual created being
like the Mormons teach or the cults teach.
Jesus has eternally existed as the son of God,
which means that the father has eternally existed.
They've eternally had that relationship.
There's three persons in the Trinity, one God.
We don't wanna look at Jesus Christ as just a man,
just a good prophet, just a good teacher
who taught some good morals.
No, he is God.
And how do we know that?
One reason why, it says that before Abraham was,
I am, and that's kind of an amazing thought
to think about, that here's this baby
that's gonna be conceived in Mary's womb, a baby, right?
But yet that baby, Jesus Christ, existed before Abraham,
existed way before Mary, existed before Joseph,
before anyone, he is the great I am.
He has eternally existed, and so this is no small thing
that's happening to Mary.
I mean, could you imagine just how surreal
of a situation it was for Mary to know
that she's carrying the Son of God?
You know that song, "Mary, Did You Know?"
Yes, she knew.
In fact, there was an angel that came
and told her everything.
That's the whole point.
Yes, Mary knew.
Go back to Luke one, I'll read for you.
Hebrews 2.9 says, "But we see Jesus,
"who was made a little lower than the angels
"for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor,
"that he, by the grace of God,
"should taste death for every man."
You know the story of the angel Gabriel coming to Mary,
telling her she's highly favored, telling her she's blessed,
telling her that she's gonna be carrying the Son of God?
This story wasn't given to us for us to glorify Mary
or to think that Mary's so great.
It was to appreciate Jesus Christ
that though he was clothed with honor and majesty,
that he made himself a little lower than the angels,
meaning he became a human being.
He humbled himself to become a baby
so that he could suffer and die for us.
That is the beauty of the Christmas story.
That is the beauty of the virgin birth.
Number three, Mary's conception by the Holy Ghost.
Mary's conception by the Holy Ghost.
Look at verse 34.
It says, "Then Mary said unto the angel,
"'How shall this be?'
"Seeing I know not a man."
That's a pretty good question.
What are you talking about?
How is this possible?
I'm a virgin, right?
And here's the truth, it's not possible.
It's a miracle.
Verse 35, "And the angel answered and said unto her,
"'The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee,
"'and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee.
"'Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee
"'shall be called the Son of God.'"
How is it that he is the Son of God?
Because he was conceived by God.
He was not conceived by a man.
The Holy Ghost overshadowed Mary.
The power of the highest overshadowed her.
The Holy Ghost came upon her.
And that is how Jesus Christ was conceived.
You say, "Pastor Oz, how does that work physically?"
I have no idea.
How does it work physically?
I don't know because it's a miracle.
Oh, that's not possible.
You're right, it's not possible, but it happened.
And I believe that it happened,
that a virgin conceived the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now this is a very important doctrine.
Go to, if you would, Romans five.
I'm gonna read a couple of verses while you turn there.
Ecclesiastes 11 five says, "As thou knowest not,
"what is the way of the Spirit?"
We're just talking about the Holy Spirit, right?
"Nor how the bones do grow in the womb
"of her that is with child,
"even so thou knowest not the works of God
"who maketh all."
Here's the truth.
I don't know how that happened.
You don't know how that happened.
And the Bible's literally telling us,
we don't know how that happened.
And you know, it's just one of those things in the Bible
that just requires faith.
And without faith, it is impossible to please him,
the Bible says.
I'm glad that there's some things in the Bible.
'Cause here's the thing, the Bible is a very logical book.
The Bible matches science and it matches reality.
But I'm glad that there are some things in the Bible
that just 100% require faith.
They're called miracles.
And you know, I believe that the miracles
in the Bible are true.
I believe that the Red Sea parted with Moses
and that they walked through on dry ground.
You know, I believe that Lazarus was really dead,
that he was out, right?
He was flatlined and that Jesus Christ
brought him back from the dead.
I believe that.
And I believe that a virgin never knew a man,
that she was pure, yet she conceived Jesus Christ
through the power of the Holy Ghost.
I believe that happened.
Now, there's a lot of preachers.
I wouldn't say a lot,
but there are some Christian preachers
that deny the validity of the virgin birth.
One of them is everybody's favorite guy,
Martin Luther King.
A guy that our country literally celebrates
a whole holiday for, Martin Luther King.
This is what he said in 1949.
He said this, first, we must admit that the evidence
for the tenability of this doctrine,
referring to the virgin birth,
is too shallow to convince any objective thinker.
He's just saying, no, there's no evidence for this.
It's too shallow to convince anyone.
It's like, is the Bible too shallow for you?
I mean, that's what you're saying.
Like the evidence of the Bible story that we just read
is not enough to convince Martin Luther King.
Why?
Because this guy was a false prophet.
Martin Luther King is burning in hell right now.
And you better believe I don't celebrate that stupid holiday.
Why?
Because it has nothing to do with race or black people.
'Cause the Bible says that God made all nations
of the earth of one blood.
Okay?
We're past that.
We don't care about that at this church,
but I do care about someone who's a false prophet
that's lifted up and loved by the world.
And I'm not gonna love Martin Luther King.
He's in hell.
Another guy, John Shelby Spong,
an Episcopal theologian said this,
the virgin birth tradition of the New Testament
is grounded in a misunderstanding of a single verse
in the book of Isaiah.
So nevermind all the stuff that we're reading in Luke
and all the other plate, we go to Matthew chapter one.
We can look at other places in the New Testament
that teach this doctrine.
He says that the conception of the virgin birth
is based on a misconception of just one verse in Isaiah.
And what he's talking about is Isaiah 7, 14,
where it says, therefore the Lord himself shall give you
a sign.
All right, here's the really confusing language.
Behold, a virgin shall conceive.
I mean, that seems really clear.
A virgin shall conceive and bear a son
and shall call his name Emmanuel.
I mean, how is that unclear?
How can there be a misconception?
Oh, a single verse in Isaiah.
The Bible literally says God's gonna give us a sign
that a virgin will conceive.
I mean, it's just stupid, but you know,
this is another thing too, is that the Old Testament
absolutely did prophesy of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Old Testament talked tons about Jesus's birth,
tons about him suffering and dying.
This is another reason why I just,
that song "Mary, Did You Know" just kind of annoys me so much
because it kind of takes away from,
I think the fact that she did know.
Because here's the thing, imagine Mary.
She's carrying the Lord Jesus Christ.
She's carrying the Son of God.
Imagine Mary opening up her Bible
and reading Isaiah chapter seven.
I mean, she had access to Isaiah.
We know that people in the New Testament could read Isaiah.
Think about the beauty of Mary reading this.
Therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign.
Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son
and shall call his name Emmanuel.
I mean, she read that verse
and knew that it was being fulfilled in her life.
That's amazing.
But you know what else is just incredible
about the faith of Mary?
Is that, that also means that she read the parts of Isaiah
where it talks about he was bruised for our iniquities,
by his stripes are we healed,
how he was hated, despised of men,
and the horrible suffering and death
that he was going to experience.
Did Mary know?
Absolutely she knew.
And we hear the story of Simeon coming up to Mary
and holding the baby, the Lord Jesus Christ,
and saying like, hey, I'm basically ready to go to heaven now.
My life is fulfilled.
I've held the Lord Jesus Christ.
But what does she tell Mary?
That a sword will pierce through her own soul also.
Because Mary had to conceive this child that she loved,
raise this child that she loved as her own,
because it is her own,
but she knew that she was gonna be giving that child
to suffer and die for the world.
And that is an incredible thought
because I don't know about you,
I'm not willing to give up my kids anytime soon to a cross.
But yet she lived her whole life knowing
that that was the mission that she had to fulfill.
That is a steadfast woman right there.
That is a woman of great faith.
You know, I think it's beautiful that yes, Mary did know.
She did know that a virgin would conceive.
And she's looking around.
Any other virgins conceiving around here?
Nope, it's me.
This verse is about me.
She knew.
Romans chapter five.
Now, why is it so important to believe in the virgin birth?
This is why, is because that by virtue of the virgin birth,
Jesus Christ did not inherit a sin nature.
All of us have a sin nature,
but you know who did not have a sin nature?
The only person who's ever had no sin nature
is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look at Romans 512.
It says, "Wherefore is by one man,
sin entered into the world and death by sin.
And so death passed upon all men for that all have sin."
Notice how the Bible highlights
how sin came into the world.
It doesn't say by Eve,
though she was the one that first ate of the tree.
The Bible highlights the fact that through one man,
sin entered into the world.
And so we can gather from that,
that it's very likely, and I believe a hundred,
this is my a hundred percent conviction.
I believe that the sin nature is passed on through the man.
You know why?
Because there's only been one person
who's ever lived on this earth,
who did not have a physical father, Jesus Christ.
And guess what?
He had no sin nature.
He never sinned.
Second Corinthians 521 says,
"For he hath made him to be sin for us,
who knew no sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
So, you know, Jesus Christ,
He didn't take on the nature of a physical father,
like all of us do.
You know what He did?
He took on the nature of His real father, God in heaven.
And that is a sinless nature.
Go to John 14, John chapter 14.
See, Jesus took on the nature of His father.
John 14 verse six.
Jesus sayeth unto him,
"I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No man cometh unto the father, but by me.
If ye had known me, ye should have known my father also.
And from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him."
Philip sayeth unto him,
"Lord, show us the father, and it sufficeth us."
Jesus sayeth unto him,
"Have I been so long time with you,
and yet hast thou not known me?"
Philip, "He that hath seen me hath seen the father,
and how sayest thou then, 'Show us the father.'
Believest thou not that I am in the father,
and the father in me?
The words that I speak unto you,
I speak not of myself, but the father that dwelleth in me.
He doeth the works."
See, what Jesus is teaching here,
He's not teaching this weird modalism, heresy,
that He literally is the father.
There's a weird teaching out there that says,
Jesus is the father, the father is Jesus,
the father is the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost is the father,
that basically there's just one person in the Trinity
that just puts on different hats.
That's a false doctrine.
But what is true is that all the words that Jesus spake
were given to him of the father.
What is true is that all the works that he did,
he constantly does those things that please him.
He does the works of the father.
And what also is true is that Jesus Christ
looks exactly like the father.
He is the exact image of his person, the Bible says.
So if you've seen Jesus, in essence,
you've seen the father.
Why?
Because it's the same words, it's the same works,
it's the same visual appearance.
If you've seen Jesus, you've seen the father.
Now, he's saying that in essence.
He's not saying that literally,
because if you see the face of God the father,
the Bible says you can't live, you will die.
You can't look into God the father's face
as a human being and live.
But you know, you can look into Jesus Christ's face.
Lots of people saw Jesus, right?
So he's the image of God the father.
He is not the father though.
But you know, I personally, every time I go soul winning,
I always at least mention the virgin birth.
I always at least mention the fact that Jesus Christ
was born of a virgin.
Why?
Because it's one of the reasons that we know
that he was sinless.
And it's one of the reasons that we know
that he is God in the flesh.
Jesus, 100% man.
How?
Because he was born of Mary.
100% God.
How?
Because he was conceived of the Holy Ghost.
That's how he had that dual nature
that no one else has ever had.
And that's why it's such an amazing miracle in the Bible
because there's nothing,
there's never been anything like that before or since.
It only happened once.
It'll only happen one time.
It's a beautiful story.
Number three, let's talk about the joy of the virgin birth.
The joy of the virgin birth.
I don't know about you.
I just, I'm happy that it's Christmas time.
I'm happy to hear the beautiful songs
to be reading these passages.
'Cause let's be honest,
we don't really talk about these passages
throughout the year.
Maybe we need to talk about it more.
It seems like we only talk about these passages
around Christmas, but these stories are beautiful.
These stories bring us joy.
Verse 35, "And the angel answered and said unto her,
the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee,
and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee.
Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee
shall be called the Son of God.
And behold, thy cousin Elizabeth,
she hath also conceived a son in her old age.
And this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.
For with God, nothing shall be impossible.'"
That brings me joy.
Verse 38, "Mary said, behold the handmaid of the Lord,
be it unto me according to thy word.
And the angel departed from her.
And Mary rose in those days
and went into the hill country with haste,
into a city of Judah,
and entered into the house of Zacharias
and saluted Elizabeth.
And it came to pass when Elizabeth
heard the salutation of Mary,
the babe leaped in her womb.
And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost."
I mean, just being in proximity
to the little baby Jesus Christ with Mary,
the babe in Elizabeth's womb leaped.
And look, this is the author,
this is the narrator of the Bible telling us this.
This isn't like, you know,
Elizabeth's just thinking something's happening.
Like the Bible says that this baby leaped in her womb.
Why, because this is a joyous announcement.
This is an exciting announcement.
Verse 43, 42, "And she spake out with a loud voice
and said, blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
And whence is this to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me."
Notice Elizabeth had the right perspective about Mary.
It's not that Mary,
oh, how is it that the mediatrix between God and man
can come to me?
How is it that this person
that holds a great office of salvation could come unto me?
No, she says, how is it that the mother of my Lord
should come unto me?
See, even the Old Testament,
which this is still Old Testament
that we're reading right now,
because the New Testament started with the death of Christ.
Here we are in the Old Testament,
and Elizabeth, who was godly,
Elizabeth, who knew the Bible,
knew that this was God in the flesh in Mary's womb,
that this was the son of God
who was gonna save her from her sins,
her husband, Zacharias, Mary, yay, the whole world.
Whence is it to me that the mother of my Lord
should come unto me?
Verse 44, "For lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation
sounded in mine ears,"
notice, "the babe leaped in my womb for joy,
and blessed is she that believed,
for there shall be a performance of those things
which were told her from the Lord.
And Mary said, 'My soul doth magnify the Lord,
and my spirit hath rejoiced in God, my Savior.'"
Her soul is magnifying her son, Jesus Christ.
She's rejoicing in her son, Jesus Christ,
who is God, her Savior.
I mean, her own son is her Savior.
And the Bible says how the babe leaped in the womb for joy.
You know, Christmas is something to be joyful about.
You know, thank God we actually have something
to be joyful about.
You know what's funny is all over,
you go to any store, you go to any workplace
in this country, in this city,
and you just, you hear Christmas music,
you hear songs about the birth of Christ.
Even the world, even the worldly musicians
who don't even love God will just make Christmas albums
and start singing hymns.
You know what's funny is I don't go anywhere
and I don't hear songs about Mohammed's birth.
I don't walk into a department store and hear,
(singing)
no, we don't hear that crap here, thank God.
'Cause there's nothing joyful about Mohammed's birth.
There's nothing joyful about, yay, Mohammed's born,
who's gonna grow up and sleep with a child
and be a pedophile and be an illiterate moron
that takes millions of people to hell.
Yay, no, no one's happy about that.
No one's happy about Buddha.
No one's happy about Hinduism.
You know what we're happy about
is God in the flesh being born.
God Almighty God coming as a baby.
Hey, I'm excited about that.
I'm happy about that.
You know, my spirit rejoices
that God would love us so much
that he would come down to humble himself as a child
to die for our sins.
I'm excited about that.
You know what, the world's been excited about it
every year for 2,024 years.
2,024 years we've been singing praises
about the birth of Jesus Christ.
We've been celebrating his coming to this earth.
And guess what, we'll be doing it for all of eternity.
Everyone's gonna forget about Mohammed.
Everyone's gonna forget about all the false religions,
but this little baby that came into this world
changed the world forever.
The most influential man who's ever lived,
Jesus Christ, the son of God.
I love this song.
It says there's a tumult of joy over the wonderful birth
for the virgin's sweet boy is the Lord of the earth.
That is beautiful words right there.
Now let's look why she rejoiced verse 48.
Why was she rejoicing over this?
Bible says, "For he hath regarded the low estate
of his handmaiden.
For behold, from henceforth all generations
shall call me blessed."
You know, why is it that Mary rejoiced?
Because God looked at a lowly, humble,
what people would consider unimportant, nobody teenage girl,
but you know what, God regarded her low estate.
God, who knows everything,
who knows the hairs on every human being's head,
cared about this one specific teenage girl in a small town
and regarded her low estate.
And here's a reason for joy for us
is that God has regarded all of our estate as well.
And that God has commended his love toward us
in that he's given us his son, Jesus Christ,
in that he's given us his child to die for our sins
and he's regarded our low estate as well.
Verse 49, "For he that is mighty have done to me great things
and holy is his name."
You know, the name of Jesus Christ is a holy name.
It's a separated, special name.
You know, we shouldn't be going around using Jesus' name
as a cuss word when we stub our toe.
No, this is the Son of God.
This is a holy name.
And his mercy is on them that fear him
from generation to generation.
See, still today, the mercy of God is upon us.
His mercy is upon us today.
He hath showed strength with his arm.
He hath scattered the proud
in the imagination of their hearts.
See, unfortunately, the prideful people of this world,
they get to miss out on this joy of Christmas.
They get to miss out on this mercy
that God has available to them.
Why?
Because, you know, the story of the gospel isn't that
this precious baby came to be born into this world
and lived a perfectly sinless life
and died for all of our sins
and went to hell and rose again from the dead
so that you could live a perfect life
to repent of all your sins and work your way to heaven.
That's not why Jesus came.
That's not why he was born in the manger.
The reason he came is so that he can come save the humble
that say, hey, that little baby that was born,
that's my savior.
That baby that was born grew up and never sinned
and died for my sins.
And the only way I could receive his mercy
and his grace and salvation is by trusting
in his death, burial, and resurrection.
The proud miss that.
God has scattered the proud
through the imaginations of their heart.
The ones that think I have to help Jesus out.
Jesus wasn't sufficient.
You see, Jesus didn't do enough works to get me to heaven.
His death wasn't sufficient for me.
I also have to give God my filthy rags.
I'll give God my filthy rags
of going to church once a month.
Oh, I'll give God my filthy rags
of reading the Christmas story once a year in December.
Oh, I'll give God my filthy rags
of feeding a homeless person,
which isn't even a good thing to do anyways.
Yet I can't tell you how many times I've heard people
answer that they're going to heaven
'cause they feed the homeless.
No, those are filthy rags.
You know what God wants you to do?
He wants you to accept the grace of his son, Jesus Christ.
He wants you to accept the free gift of salvation
by believing that he was sufficient for your salvation.
Verse 52, he hath put down the mighty from their seats
and exalted them of low degree.
I just love the symbolism of Christianity,
how this humble baby born in a manger,
this little child who physically is weak and defenseless
and needs his mother and needs all these physical things,
how he himself is the one that put down the mighty
from their seats.
And he's the one that's exalted them of low degree.
He's the one that has filled the hungry with good things
and the rich he hath sent away empty.
He hath helped his servant Israel
in remembrance of his mercy.
That's something to rejoice about.
The fact that all those things can still apply to us today,
that his mercy has endured forever
from generation to generation,
God has showed himself merciful to us.
You know, God has shown himself faithful and merciful
in just giving us the Bible.
The fact that God has been so merciful to preserve it
throughout all generations,
that God has been so merciful to die for the institution
of the church, that here we are today, 2024 years later,
talking about his birth, you know, praise God for that.
Go to Luke 1 verse 45, we're almost done.
We'll go to two more places, we'll be done.
Luke 1 45 says this, "And blessed is she that believed,
"for there shall be a performance of those things
"which were told from the Lord."
I love this right here saying like,
hey, she's blessed because she believed.
And you know, that is true for us today.
You wanna know why we're blessed with the problem
or with the promise of going to heaven?
It's that we have believed, we have trusted in God.
And the Bible says, "For there shall be a performance
"of those things which were told her from the Lord."
See, these ladies had no doubt that this would happen.
And when you think about it, it's amazing because it's like,
hey, can a virgin conceive?
No, physically it is impossible, right?
But yet we know through this story
that it's kind of a cliche saying that people say,
but it's true that God is a God of impossibilities.
Because here's a story
where this is an impossible situation.
A woman conceiving without knowing a man,
but yet they were faithful.
They said, you know what?
There will be a performance of the things
that were told her from the Lord.
And that is a powerful truth that we should walk away
from this story is saying, look,
if Mary can be told something from God
that is physically impossible and she could believe it,
why can't we just take the promises
that God's given us in his word and also realize,
hey, there's gonna be a performance
of the things that God has told us.
And just to wait on the Lord to be patient
and to trust what he says.
Hebrews chapter four, go to Hebrews four.
Last place, we'll turn.
Hebrews four verse 14 says,
"Seeing then that we have a great high priest
"that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the son of God,
"let us hold fast our profession.
"For we have not in high priest,
"which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
"but was in all points tempted like as we are,
"yet without sin.
"Let us therefore come boldly onto the throne of grace,
"let us therefore come boldly onto the throne of grace,
"that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help
"in time of need."
See, the virgin birth teaches us
that God is not some distant, impersonal God
that doesn't know us, that doesn't understand us,
that doesn't know what it's like to be a human being,
but rather that God actually was a child and was a baby.
And actually, God humbled himself so much
that he had to be breastfed
and had to have his diapers changed
and had to grow in knowledge and in stature
and had to experience being betrayed
and had to experience people lying about him
and had to experience all the same troubles and problems
that all of us face to where it could be true
that it can't be said of him
that he can't be touched with the feelings of our infirmities
but was in all points tempted like as we are,
yet without sin.
You know, that's another thing that makes our Lord different
that all the false gods that are out there in this world
is that Muhammad doesn't know what it's like to be you.
He doesn't care about you.
Muhammad doesn't love you.
Buddha doesn't love you.
But you know what?
Jesus was rich in heaven, had everything,
had all the honor and glory of being God,
of being the son of God in heaven.
And he gave that all up to become a baby,
to suffer, to die for us because he does love us.
That's the God I wanna serve.
That's the God I choose.
I choose the baby in the manger.
That's who I choose.
That's the one that I wanna serve
and that's the one that we should,
what the Bible says, hold fast our profession.
You know, it's worth holding fast
to our Christian profession
because he actually has been touched with our infirmities.
He actually does love us
and he actually could help us in time of need.
So when we think about the Christmas story this year,
sure, let's respect Mary.
Let's love Mary.
Let's think that she was a great godly lady, she was.
But you know what?
Let's not get too focused on Mary
where we think the Christmas story is about Mary.
You know what it's about?
It's about that baby that was born in the manger.
Let's pray.
Lord, thank you for this beautiful story.
Thank you for the birth of your son, Jesus Christ.
I pray that this upcoming year,
you would help us all to love your son more and more
and help us to hold fast our profession,
help us just to serve him with all of our might.
We love you in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Quick reminder, right after the service,
we are gonna have our practice for the kids choir.
(audience laughing)
All right, for our last hymn this morning,
turn if you would to 430,
while shepherds watch their flocks.
Hymn number 430, 430, "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks."
We'll sing there starting on the first.
♪ While shepherds watched their flocks ♪
♪ By night all seated on the ground ♪
♪ The angel of the poor came down ♪
♪ Then glory shone around ♪
♪ Fear not, say, for mighty dread ♪
♪ Had seized their troubled mind ♪
♪ What a triumph of great joy I bring ♪
♪ To you and all mankind ♪
♪ To you in David's town this day ♪
♪ Is born of David's mind ♪
♪ The Savior, who is Christ the Lord ♪
♪ And this shall be the sign ♪
♪ The heavenly babe you there shall find ♪
♪ To you and you this play ♪
♪ O be we wrapped in swarming bands ♪
♪ And in a manger laid ♪
♪ All glory be to God on high ♪
♪ And to the earth be peace ♪
♪ Good will is born from heaven to men ♪
♪ He did and never cease ♪
Amen with that, you are displeased.