Conceived by the Holy Spirit

0812-25S 1

BORN OF THE VIRGIN MARY

(Matthew 1:18-25)

TEXT: Luke 1:30-33

SUBJECT: Jesus Christ—his humanity.

F.C.F: What hope is there for a failed sinner like me?

PROPOSITION: Since Jesus is the true man, we must trust him alone.

A. You made it! Here it is Christmas Day 2008, and whatever preparations you needed to make, well, it’s done. All except for paying the bills;they come next month.

Is it all worth it? The famous writer Upton Sinclair was doubtful as he wrote over 40 years ago: “Or consider Christmas—could Satan in his most malignant mood have devised a worse combination of graft plus bunkum than the system whereby several hundred million people get a billion or so gifts for which they have no use, and some thousands of shop clerks die of exhaustion while selling them, and every other child in the Western world is made ill from overeating—all in the name of the lowly Jesus?” And honestly, is that really what it’s all about?

B. There is great confusion on this point. Every “heart-warming” Christmas special promises to reveal the “real meaning of Christmas.” But what I’ve noticed is that these supposed “real meanings of Christmas” conflict with each other! For some, it’s about family togetherness. For others, it’s the spirit of giving. For still others, it’s about the children. And for others, it’s about passion and romance. So what is it? What is “the real meaning of Christmas”?

C. Would you mind if we consulted the original source material for the next few moments together? In the Apostle’s Creed, which most Christians recite from time-to-time, we learn that Jesus Christ was God’s only Son, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary. This virgin birth is boldly declared in the original source material, in the New Testament, the only place where we find the actual account of the first Christmas. We not only learn the circumstances of his coming, but also the reason for his coming, the indisputable “real meaning of Christmas.”

The original text tells us that…

I. HE WAS THE TRUE SON OF DAVID.

Look with me at Matthew 1:18-20: “18 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. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 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.”

A. Notice that the angel calls Joseph the “son of David.” What’s that all about? If you look up to the genealogy in the verses just before this, you see that Joseph’s father was not named “David” but “Jacob” (vs. 15). But the point is that Joseph was a descendant of the illustrious King David, the greatest king in the history of Israel. Jesus was born of royalty. He was also a “son of David,” a royal descendant of the great king, and heir to the throne.

Now, of course, Joseph was only Jesus’ step-father. God was his true father. But Joseph was his “legal” father, and so this made Jesus the legal descendant of David. And, by the way, if you consult the genealogy of Jesus recorded in Luke’s Gospel, you find it differs toward the end. Most probably Luke is giving the genealogy of Mary, to demonstrate that she, too, was a descendant of David, so that Jesus was his heir both by law and by blood. Jesus was the Son of David.

B. And this points to part of the reason for his coming. He came to be the King, to initiate a kingdom. The first man, Adam, was given dominion over the earth. He was, under God, king of the earth, and all was well since he had been created in the image of God. He was God’s representative.

But then everything fell apart. Adam rebelled against his Maker, against the true king. He handed over this world to the Evil One who deceived him, and ever since this world has been under the dominion of darkness. That’s why this world is so messed up, and that’s why you are so messed up. That’s why you keep desiring to do what’s wrong and bad. You have also been deceived and are under the dominion of the evil one.

But God did not abandon this whole mess as hopeless. He promised to send a better King than Adam, the true King who would re-establish the kingdom of righteousness right in the middle of this messed up world. Now King David was only a picture of the Greater King who was to come. King David was a great king. He ruled with justice, he protected the people and defeated their enemies, and he brought peace. But he was only a mortal, sinful man, and he failed, and he died; and yet God promised to send the true King, his own Son.

C. Now that’s the “real meaning of Christmas.” Jesus, the Son of David, has been born. And he has begun his kingdom. His kingdom includes all who will quit the rebellion, and surrender to him, and humbly submit to Jesus as their ruler and master, and let him make them what he wants to be. Christmas is about God restoring what was forfeited by our first parents. Christmas is about God sending his Son, the Great King, on a mission to rescue those whose lives were dominated by evil.

But there’s something more

II. HE WAS THE TRUE MAN.

A. You see the problem is even worse than we may know. Our first parents did not just forfeit a great position, but they fell into a terrible corruption. God had given to our race the greatest privilege imaginable. (Genesis 1:26) “26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

God made Adam and Eve in his own image. The New Testament explains that God gave them the gifts of true knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. Adam was not God, but was like God, sharing some of God’s own traits. Adam had great wisdom and knowledge. He knew the true nature of things, and understood why God made him and what was his purpose. He was created upright, doing that which was good and acceptable to God. And he was made in holiness, having true and sincere affections, loving what God loved and hating what God hated.

B. But he was also made able to change. And when he was tempted, he rebelled against his Maker. He fell. The Bible calls this “the fall.” And in this fall, he was corrupted. These remarkable gifts of knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, were all twisted and ruined. So now, instead, as Adam’s children, we are born sinful. Our minds are darkened, our actions are wicked, and our affections are incurably bent toward evil. We are natural born sinners, because we are born of Adam, born after the twisted and broken image of our father. We are mere shadows of men and women. It is common to speak of “the ascent of man,” as though our race started out as hairless apes, savage cave men who have evolved into the refined and sophisticated people we are today.

But the truth is that we have devolved. Our first parents were incomparably wise, truly good, and morally pure. And all of that was destroyed in an instant in the fall. And we have taken what remnants of knowledge we still possess and have fashioned a world that is utterly filled with wickedness.

C. That’s why God sent his Son. He was the true image-bearer. And he was born of the Virgin Mary. He is the true Man, not some spoiled shadow- man like we all are. He is the true Man, who we were meant to be. A. W. Tozer wrote: “We know how God would act if he were in our place—he has been in our place.” But even more so, we know who we should have been—Jesus is what we should have been.

The reason you and I mess up so much…is because we are so messed up. We are not who we were meant to be. In fact, we have no picture today of who we were meant to be for nobody even comes close. But Jesus is the true man. He is who we were meant to be. And it is a wonder to behold! The Puritan poet John Donne wrote:

'Twas much, that man was made like God before.

But, that God should be made like man, much more.

Matthew writes: “22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.” You see, he was born like us, but not like us. He was born “of the Virgin Mary.” He is the true Man. And that’s “the real meaning of Christmas.”

But there’s even more. He was the true man…

III. TO MAKE US TRUE MEN.

A. By itself, the fact that Jesus was the true Man, who we were supposed to be is only depressing. It’s like flunking a test and then being given the answer key. “Oh, that’s what I was supposed to do!” That doesn’t help much after the fact. And we look at Jesus and his perfect life and say, “Oh, that’s what I was supposed to be!” It only makes us feel worse, for we are nothing like Jesus, nothing at all.

But the good news is that Jesus is the true Man who came to make us true men, truly human, and not the ruined specters we are today. Look with me at verses 19-21: “19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 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. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

He will save his people from their sins. Save in what way? Well, certainly to save us from the awful penalty of sin. God has decreed the sentence of death for all sinners like us, and we deserve it. The good news is that Jesus has paid that penalty by suffering execution on a cross for all who will repent of their sin and come in humble faith to him. John Donne also wrote: “God clothed himself in vile man’s flesh so he might be weak enough to suffer.” He suffered the penalty we sinners deserve, so that we might escape it.

B. But he will also save us from the dreadful effects of sin. The true Man intends to make us true men (and true women), who we were meant to be all along. And this is very good news to those who know just how ruined they are. It also exposes a puzzling oddity. Some people want Jesus to save them from the future penalty of sin, but at the same time, they want to continue living in that same sin. They want to linger in that dehumanizing behavior. They apparently love to be broken, twisted, and ruined, living in ignorance and stupidity, in wickedness and corruption.

I honestly doubt that that is possible. I do not think the Bible teaches that you can still live like the devil but go to heaven when you die. But even if it were possible, who in the world would want to do it? Who would refuse the true Man’s offer to make us true men, who we were supposed to be, to restore in us the glory of the image of God?

CONCLUSION

Jesus came to save sinners. He came to re-establish the kingdom of God. He came to rescue us from the mess we became and to restore the ruined image of God in us in true knowledge, righteousness and holiness.

I think this can be seen most clearly in the two groups of people who were summoned to meet the baby Jesus. Every manger scene shows these two groups of people. And the Gospels of Luke and Matthew tell us about them.

1. First came the shepherds. There is often much made about how wonderful those shepherds were: loyal, faithful, common people, the salt of the earth—all false. Shepherds in the first century were the dregs of society. They were considered shiftless and untrustworthy. When the shepherds came around, you’d better lock up your valuables…and your daughters. Shepherds were so unreliable that their testimony was not permitted in a Jewish court of law. In fact, when Jesus said he was a Shepherd in John 10, he had to specify that he was the GOOD Shepherd, not like the others.

And yet the angels appeared on the hillside at midnight and announced the birth of the Savior to shepherds. Why to them? Because they needed him, and he came to save sinners, to restore ruined rebels.

2. Or those magi from the east. They are also found in every manger scene, though they did not come to the stable, but rather to the house where Joseph and Mary were living in Bethlehem by this time, some months later. Who were these magi? They certainly were not “we three kings.” And they were undoubtedly not “wise men.” They were “magi” from which we get our word “magician.” They were astrologers. They were pagan, Gentile sorcerers. We meet two others called “magi” in the New Testament, both of them wicked enemies of God. They were the kind of people who were condemned by the Old Testament Law. If good king David were still alive at this time, he would have put them to death.

Why were they summoned by the star? Why did God call them to meet his Son? Because Jesus came to save wicked sinners like them, like you, like me.

AND THEY RESPONDED! Theycame to Christ when they were summoned. Have you come to Christ? 

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