With Child from the Holy Spirit Part 2: The Just Shall Live by Faith
Notes
Transcript
Getting the Birth of Jesus Right
Getting the Birth of Jesus Right
Last week, we examined this simple verse and the familiar story it convays. The virgin birth, we saw, proves so much to us about who Jesus is and gives us confort and confidence in our faith. As God, we owe him our praise and worship and recognize his sinless nature, his complete authority, and the great humility he embraced by taking off his Emporer’s robes and putting on the attire of poor, sinful creatures so that he might become one of us as our merciful and faithful high priest. In his humanity, we recognize the duality of Jesus’ nature and how he made himself completely human, going through the process of a normal human birth and even being born in a socially scandolous position to a mother who had not yet consumated her marriage. In this way, Jesus took on our weaknesses, our struggles, our humiliations, and our social shame to be like us. This was all accomplished by the work of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead who is always working in the background in Jesus’ ministry to bring him glory. That same Spirit works in the church today so that we may live like Christ and ultimately give glory to him alone.
Now that is a lot of theology, but I hope you can see how practical it is to know these things. To many, all that matters in the Christian life is practical. To an extent this is true, however some push it to the extreme that anything that doesn’t seem practical to them is brushed aside as unimportant. Last week we were encouraged by Christ’s closeness to us despite his highness as God, and we saw that these are things he deserves worship for. But are there more practical reasons why we should take this doctrine of the virgin birth of Christ seriously? Many think it is inconsequential, and still other dismiss it as false. So what relevance does the birth of Christ and the perfect union of divine and human in that birth have for us? Theology is as necessary to live the Christian life as engineering is to powering a city. It may seem disconnected, but without good theology our Christianity will go dark.
In reality, there are great benefits in getting these doctrines about Christ’s birth right. Likewise, there are great, even lethal, dangers to getting them wrong. My hope today is that considering these benefits and dangers will cause us to be more diligent in meditating on Scripture and
Let us consider the benefits of having a very accurate view of Christ’s birth, as well as the dangers of failing to do so. (4 benefits, 4 dangers)
Benefit #1: That we may see the glory and humility of Christ displayed together.
Benefit #1: That we may see the glory and humility of Christ displayed together.
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
The simple name Immanuel convays the core truth behind the birth of Christ. God has come.
First it is God who has come. The revelation of God in the OT was displayed to God’s people through mediums such as prophetic dreams or the appearance of angels
Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.
you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”
Although these Angels spoke with the voice of God, it was never completely true that God was physically present with his people without boundary. The presence of God remained behind a curtain in the Tabernacle, for God’s presence was too holy to be with men.
This is he who has come, the one whose presence was so holy that any unclean person who touched the sacred things in his temple would die. The one so holy that he killed Moses for striking a rock when he has commanded him to speak to it. One so holy, touching the Ark of the Covenant to keep it from tipping over caused God to strike someone down. God’s holiness and might make him above our approach. Just as you cannot walk up to an angry wolverine and calm it down without being torn to streads, we cannot approach a holy God in our sin and not be consumed.
“with us”. This is what is so surprising. Though God’s leadership has always been in place, it had been mediated through weak leaders. Even the best of them failed to reach the divine standard and all of them failed to install a true love for God in the people of God. It was clear that God’s people needed one thing: God himself. However, God’s holy presence is too great for any one of us to enter and make a right sacrifice for our sins.
This is the humility Christ shows in becoming man. He laid aside his glory and embraced our shame as a human so that he could enter the presence of God on our behalf and make perfect intercession for us.
This glorious truth that is the foundation of our faith in Christ is grounded in the virgin birth. A real human birth because he was a real human in every way except for sin, and a spiritual conception because he was not merely a human, but he was God with us. In this we see glory and humility displayed at once and for that we must worship him.
Benefit #2: That we may have reason to know Jesus as the Christ from his first moments in this world.
Benefit #2: That we may have reason to know Jesus as the Christ from his first moments in this world.
Matthew does not shy away from the claim that Jesus is the Christ in verse 18. This is because there is explicit proof of it in this very first part of the Gospel narrative. Some have made the argument that Jesus became Christ at his baptism. However, Matthew shoots that theory from the sky in this verse. He reminds us that the birth of Jesus the Christ took place in this way. Then he gives the account of the supernatural element in the natural birth of Christ, removing all doubt. Christhood and godhood are not something he attained as a human, its something he is. This,
Inspires humility, reminding us that he is to be worshipped as one who is our creator.
Remind us that we cannot become a god or attain glory for ourselves. This is what Mormanism teaches.
Gives us confidence in Christ’s faithfulness. If he is Christ because of his faithfulness as a human, there is an inevitability that he will eventually fall. But Christ is faithful in his very nature, from his birth he was who he was, and this gives us confidence for the future.
Benefit #3: That we may know we have truly believed the Gospel and have not believed a lie
Benefit #3: That we may know we have truly believed the Gospel and have not believed a lie
that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.
With many religions and even many versions of the Christian Gospel out there, it is vital that we know we have the right one. Eternity is on the line, and this is a mistake we cannot possibly make without the most severe consequences.
Benefit #4: Only in the Virgin Birth can we see an accurate picture of the Holy Spirit’s life-giving role for God’s children.
Benefit #4: Only in the Virgin Birth can we see an accurate picture of the Holy Spirit’s life-giving role for God’s children.
What we see right from Jesus’ conception is the active role the Holy Spirit plays in God’s redemtive plan. A very important detail about the coming of Christ that we teached on briefly last week is that Jesus did nothing apart from obedience to the Father and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus set aside his divine power so that he could be truly human with the Spiritual resources available to his people. In the power of the Holy Spirit the church goes on to fulfil the victorious conquest that Christ accomplished on the cross.
But what does this have to do with the virgin birth? The fact that the Holy Spirit generated the conception displays openly from the beginning the united work between the members of the Trinity.
All life in God is by the Spirit. Just as the heavenly coming to earth required the Spirit’s work, the earthly being reborn with a heavenly nature requires his work. Although Jesus was in no need of sanctification, his life as a human being was begun by the Holy Spirit. It was the Spirit that took an ordinary, sinful human being and from her
Life in Christ is of a particularily spiritual nature. If you have a hard time accepting a virgin birth, do you think spiritual birth is any less a supernatural act? When someone comes to Christ, their life is changed in such a way that natural means cannot account for it.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
What Jesus means is that what comes from the flesh will have the nature of fleshly things, but what is born of the Spirit will have a spiritual nature. People can do a lot of things in their flesh. They can abandon harmful habits and addictions, they can do many seemingly good deeds, they can get their life together, they can have great theology, they can give their body up to be burned for what they beleive. They can have dreams and visions, be very insightful, be excellent preachers who preach the Gospel with power. All this can be done in the flesh, and most of these things can be secondary signs of Spiritual life, they are not the proof.
So what is proof of Spiritual life?
Love for Christ that is characterized by
Singularity. Deut 5:6-7“ ‘I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “ ‘You shall have no other gods besides me.”
Self-Abandonment. Luke 14:26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”
Repentence, not simply stopping sinful practices or feeling bad about sin, it is an abandonment of sinful ways out of a desire for unity with Christ. Repentance should be seen less like given up smoking and more like giving up every other potential lover to be with your spouse.
A sacrificial love for the people of God. Not simply a desire for a friend group or social gatherings, but love that is founded in our love for Christ.
We can know we are children of God when the same Spirit dwells in us. It must be true that we are miraculously born of God, otherwise we are purely of the flesh and do not have the Spiritual nature which we must have if we are to be in Christ. Those who are born of flesh only will always be part of Adam’s sinful line, but those who are born of the Spirit share in Christ’s nature and we can have confidence in our position in him.
Danger #1: That the glory of Christ would be blocked from our sight as it was from the sight of the self-righteous Jews
Danger #1: That the glory of Christ would be blocked from our sight as it was from the sight of the self-righteous Jews
Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
As the author of Hebrews points out, there is a danger of failing to reach the promises of God if we do not embrace the Word of God and the Gospel it presents us.
Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.
If we reject the truth of Christ’s birth, we are in great danger of losing the true Gospel altogether. Those who put themselves in a place to choose what in Scripture they will believe and what they will not make themselves the ultimate authority of what they think to be true. Instead of submitting to the Word of God, they form the habit of forcing the Word to submit to them. Since we know that the Gospel is not one of human wisdom but of Spiritual wisdom, we are dangerously likely to lose the Gospel if we subject God’s Word to our own feeling about what is reasonable.
Danger #2: That we would doubt the Scriptures or the validity of the claims of Christ
Danger #2: That we would doubt the Scriptures or the validity of the claims of Christ
If we are willing to cast doubt on the virgin birth or the duel nature of Christ, we put ourselves in danger of doubting more of God’s Word. There is nothing more foolish than thinking that we are not prone to unbelief if we begin to put the Word of God under our own scrutiny.
Danger #3: That we may fall into the intellectual skepticism that is common in our culture
Danger #3: That we may fall into the intellectual skepticism that is common in our culture
To this world, holding to miraculous events in ancient times is laughable. If you want to appear sophisticated and intellagent, or even if you just want to be taken seriously when you share the Gospel, these kinnds of things are difficult to admit to. And yet the very power of the Gospel unfolds in supernatural work.
Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
If we become arrogant, we will think we know better than the biblical authors, and even than God himself. How can we be in Christ while we think this way?
Danger #4: That we may be found to have lost the Gospel and to be not of God, but rather Children of the Devil
Danger #4: That we may be found to have lost the Gospel and to be not of God, but rather Children of the Devil
We saw that one benefit of holding onto the precious truth of the virgin birth is the reality of the Holy Spirit’s work. To minimize or deny the virgin birth is to fade out the Holy Spirit’s role in the coming of Christ and, by extention, our own life. The Spirit’s work, however, is an important part of the Gospel. Without it, we will have no other road to walk but by the flesh.
A lot of people want a kind of Christianity that is fleshy. That has all the dress of something spiritual but in reality it is secular in nature. It is by the flesh and for the flesh. Any Christianity that puts our feelings or experiences before Scriptural truth, any Christianity that puts emphasis on works and our abilities rather than on the Spirit’s work, any Christianity with a theology that does not dramatically affect our real lives, any Christianity that is not based on loving and following Jesus is not true faith.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Believing in the virgin conception of Jesus, or any other doctrine in Scripture, is not about ascenting to a philisophical truth or historical event. It is ultimiately about worship. The Puritans are known as those who lived by this motto, “doctrine for life.” There is something very practical about worship in the Christian life. I’m not talking about singing before the sermon, I’m talking about our hearts expressing the greatness of our God in all of life. Worship leads to repentance, obedience, humility, love, courage, and faith. It makes us walk in step with the Spirit and gives us the ability to stand strong in our faith in every situation. Don’t you dare pick up your Bible, or go to church, or have a discussion about theology, or do anything at all without the intention to worship as your do that thing.
Romans 11:33–36 (ESV)
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
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For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
The mystery of Christ’s incarnation, the perfect unity of created flesh and uncreated divinity, should drive our hearts to explode in worship. Is there anything greater to think about than the mystery of Christ? Is there anything else we could make our lives about? Learn to live for this one thing: to be captured by the radience of the glory of Christ. A glory we see radiate in the supernatural conception of Christ’s body, and the supernatural birth of our souls.