In Dr. Ramsey’s 29 minute mp3 sermon, he explains Christ’s incarnation thoroughly; in terms of its biblical significance; and in terms of how that benefits Christians, and more.
A list of sermon highlights precedes the sermon, for those who do not want to spend the time to listen, or for those who would listen and study the points. These are highlights, in that there are missing points that only listening can net you.
[All emboldening, and square brackets are mine]
(Matt 1:18 [ESV2011])Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.
(Matt 1:19 [ESV2011])And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
(Matt 1:20 [ESV2011])But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
(Matt 1:21 [ESV2011])She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
(Matt 1:22 [ESV2011])All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
(Matt 1:23 [ESV2011])“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). [Isaiah chapter 7]
(Matt 1:24 [ESV2011])When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife,
(Matt 1:25 [ESV2011])but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
- Who is Jesus?
- We looked at His family tree and birth, last week
- The virgin birth teaches us that Jesus is the Son of God and the last Adam
- Joseph, the husband of Mary…. Matthew shifted his pattern to indicate that Joseph was not Jesus’ biological human father: He was conceived by the Holy Spirit: the virgin birth
- The virgin conception, v.20
- The angel in Luke 1, “you will conceive in your womb and bear a Son, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you”
- That is, the Spirit is the one who created Jesus’ humanity in Mary’s womb
- Mary did not get pregnant by having sex with a man or other means of today
- The Holy Spirit, who is able to create life, enabled Mary to conceive in some mysterious way
- This helps us to see that Jesus is God the Son
- The virgin birth, by itself, does not prove that Jesus is the Son of God
- Some believe in the virgin birth, but not that Jesus is the Son of God…
- The incarnation, God becoming a man, did require a supernatural conception
- Since we know from the rest of scripture, that Jesus is the God-man, then it makes sense that He was conceived in a supernatural manner…explained
- Humanitarianism: the belief that Jesus is just a fine man, not sufficient; He is God the Son
- Immanuel: “God with us” [other meanings considered, those which do not fully explain the biblical meaning, concerning context also]
- He is God with us, because He, Himself is God in the flesh
- When we consider the virgin birth, in light of the whole story, it tells us that Jesus is God; it also tells us that He is the last Adam
- Very significant that the Holy Spirit is present and active in the conception of our Lord; since He was active and present in the first creation, the Spirit, Who is the source and giver of life, that Person of the trinity is active in Jesus’ conception – this suggests that what is happening is the beginning of the NEW creation
- In Luke’s account (Luke 1, 2 the passage typically called The Christmas Story) the Spirit is said to overshadow Mary, as in Gen 1:2, where He hovered over the face of the waters; now, over Mary, in the conception of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God
- The birth of Jesus, marks a NEW creation, a new beginning, due to the creative energies of God the Holy Spirit
- Just as Adam was the first man, head of the first creation; Jesus is the second man, another Adam, the Last Adam, head of the New Creation
- The New Testament says this: Paul compares and contrasts Adam and Jesus [Romans 5]
- Paul says, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has passed away and the new has come
- That is why when one is born again, he is removed out of the old creation and is made new, united to Christ by faith and made part of the new creation, part of the kingdom of God
- That began when the Spirit overshadowed Mary…
- Last week: Jesus was a man, just like us, born into this fallen world, into a family of sinners; but he also is not like us in that He is without sin; and in that He is another Adam, the covenantal head of a new humanity, the pioneer, as Hebrews says – the One who delivers from this present evil age; who delivers us, rescues us from the Adamic age where sin and death reign; He brings us into the new creation, the age of the Spirit, the kingdom of God – eternal life
- That is why the virgin birth is so important; it tells us who Jesus is; it means Jesus has come, Jesus, the Son of God, the last Adam
- Problem of the virgin birth is seen from the perspective of Joseph: Joseph and Mary were betrothed, engaged
- Betrothal: like the first stage of marriage; the man and woman would come together in front of witnesses and promise that they would marry, it was a legally binding covenant or contract, thereafter, they were called husband and wife
- Hence, verse 19 refers to Joseph as Mary’s husband
- “Divorce” to break off the marriage
- During the betrothal year, the woman would still live with her parents; thereafter, when it was time, the man and his friends would come to her home and escort her to his parent’s home to have the wedding banquet there, after that, they would come together as man and wife, consummate the marriage and live as a new family
- At the point of verse 18, Mary is legally bound to Joseph, still living at home with her parents; this is when she got pregnant; Luke says that after the angel visited, she went to stay with Elizabeth and stayed there 3 months, then came home – around that time, Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant. The only reasonable conclusion he could come to is that she had had sex with someone else.
- How would you behave if you were in his shoes? How would you decide what to do? Based on feelings of betrayal, revenge? Would you decide based on your own impulses?
- Matthew stated that Joseph was just and righteous; to honor the Lord and do right, he based his decision on scripture: the law allows for a divorce in the case of infidelity; so Joseph knew he had a right to divorce Mary – not all divorce is sinful and wrong; one can honor the Lord in divorce too
- But how would he do it? Since he was also kind, he did not want to shame Mary publically; he decided to divorce her quietly with 2 witnesses
- So, the virgin birth from Joseph’s point of view, we see what he planned and why; but there is more to it than that
- Mary’s pregnancy was due to the power of God
- Another issue at hand here too: Christ, our Savior has to be a son of David; Jesus had to have Joseph as his legal father in order for Him to be a true, legal Son of David; that is, Joseph cannot divorce Mary if Jesus would be the Son of David; but Joseph had decided not to marry her, but divorce her quietly.
- His decision put his and our salvation at risk
- Similar situation, ch. 2, Herod…God sent an angel to Joseph then also
- To prevent Joseph from divorcing Mary, God sent an angel, verse 20; the angel told Joseph how and why Mary was pregnant; that he should legally take Him as his son – he did, they completed the marriage process, not consummating the marriage sexually until after Jesus was born
- Joseph took Mary’s son as his own son, and called His name Jesus, thereby, Joseph established Jesus’ pedigree
- However, He was not the Messianic King that the people expected – delivering them from Roman oppression, making Israel a great political nation once again
- That was not part of His mission
- He came, as the Messianic King Save
- Our deepest problem is our sin problem; the reason for all misery, pain, hardship in the world is because of sin
- Sin, death and the Evil One are our great enemies
- In Psalm 130, the psalmist exhorts Israel to Hope in the Lord; hope indicates future; one hopes in something that is not yet a reality in one’s life
- The object of the psalmist’s hope in ps 130 is that Yahweh would one day come and redeem Israel from all of her iniquities
- Redemption from sin was a future hope of the psalmist; he waited; Jesus’ birth means that this wait was over; Jesus is Yahweh, He has come to redeem, to save His people from their sins; He is the fulfillment of psalm 130
- How will Yahweh save us? Isaiah 53: He will bear our griefs, carry our sorrows; be smitten by God and afflicted; pierced for our transgressions; crushed for our iniquities
- That is now what the people expected the Messianic King to do; but that is what the scriptures said He would do
- The rest of scripture says that He did in deed do that through His death and resurrection; that is why the message of the gospel is that there is forgiveness in and through Jesus’ Name
- It is written that the Christ should suffer, and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name through all the nations
- Peter: all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins in His name
- Paul: Gal. 1: Jesus gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from this present evil age: in Ephesians 1:7…
- This point is made over and over again throughout the New Testament
- It proves that Jesus is the Christ, is Yahweh and saved His people from their sins
- The true Son of David therefore, is not only a King, He is also a Priest
- Psalm 110, said this
- The Messiah is our King and our great High Priest
- The birth of Jesus it truly a monumental event the long awaited Son of David, Son of Abraham, Immanuel, and last Adam, had come; Yahweh has finally come, and with Him is plentiful redemption; He has redeemed us from all our iniquities; that is why we sing…He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found…
To hear other sermons by Dr. Ramsey in this blog, see: Archives:
- July 8, 2020 — The Christian’s Most Important Question, part 2
- July 7, 2020 — The Christian’s Most Important Question, part 1
- June 9, 2020 The Holy Spirit
- June 7, 2020, Ascension of Christ
- May 24, 2020, Faith is NOT
- May 3, 2020 – Dealing with Fear;
- April 26, 2020 – Godly Instruction for Dealing with Sin and Guilt;
- October 2019: The Lord’s Supper; and
- July 8, 2019, Saving Faith.
Dr. Ramsey can be heard at sermonaudio by clicking the following link:
https://www.sermonaudio.com/source_detail.asp?sourceid=nashuaopc