Welcome to the Further Gospel Podcast, where we provide sound doctrine for everyday people. I'm your host, Kosty Hinn, and I want to welcome our listeners on Apple and Spotify and those of you enjoying this on our YouTube video podcast format. This is the second episode of our three-week Christmas series designed to help keep the hope and meaning of Christmas in the forefront of your mind. Last time we looked at the four reasons Jesus was born. He was born to be a savior, a sanctifier, a shepherd, and a mediator. And we dug into each one of those. And today I want to help answer the question: why did Mary have to be a virgin? It is one of the most important questions that anyone could ever ask. Why is the virgin birth an essential Christian belief? And what I mean by that is can someone not be saved if they don't believe in the virgin birth? A number of years ago, Rob Bell, who became famous for his deconstructing of the Christian faith, said this: It wouldn't really be a big deal if we all found out one day that Jesus had an earthly father named Larry. The virgin birth is not essential. Ah, Rob Bell could not be more wrong. And everyone else who holds to that view could not be more wrong. There are rights, there are wrongs when it comes to the Christian faith. You can have charity and liberty in secondary and tertiary issues, but when it comes to the virgin birth, I mean, this is primary tier one doctrine. The virgin birth is proof that the Bible is true. It is proof that Christ was perfect and holy and pure, yet human and also, yes, divine. He was the only person ever born that way. He was not born in sin like the rest of us. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit himself and set apart as the Messiah. The virgin birth is essential. And Satan hates this truth because it represents his defeat and Christ's victory, because it's the fulfillment of God's promise to redeem us and to send a Savior. Matthew 1, 18 to 25 is going to be our foundational text for this question. So let's walk through it. It'll be up on the screen periodically as I walk you through these verses, and we're going to discover some essential truths along the way. If you're driving or jogging or cleaning or running, don't worry. I'll read every passage. If you're watching this, you'll see it up and you can jot down notes. The first verse I want to point your attention to is verse 18 of Matthew chapter 1. It says this. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. This is a very important verse when we're talking about the essential doctrine of the virgin birth. And there's a few important truths to highlight here. First, Mary was betrothed to Joseph when all this happens. Betrothal was more than an engagement, it was legally binding in that culture. You signed before witnesses. It was about a year-long process. And if you broke it off, it was called a divorce, and it had to be accompanied by a certificate of divorce signed by witnesses. And so in their custom, much different than ours. Imagine today, people break off an engagement and she either throws the ring back at him or keeps it and eBays it or whatever. He's heartbroken. But in the end, it's not called a divorce. You just broke off the engagement. Well, in their custom, much different. Women were typically betrothed at 12. They were married by 13. They were having babies by 14 or 15. All very normal, even though I know people today cringe at those numbers, but it was a different time. Men would be around 17 or 18. They could work and provide. They had been bar mitzfudd by 12 years old. They knew the law and they would be following God, working hard, and approved by the girl's father. That's an ideal situation. All of that is closely guarded. It's a known process, nothing sinister going on here, but it's important to know they're betrothed when all of this happens. And they're not, number two, supposed to have been intimate. And they weren't. Mary and Joseph had not been intimate. The text says this. It says that phrase, before they came together. That's a phrase referring to their consummation, their intimacy. They had remained pure, but she's pregnant. So what happened? Well, the third thing to highlight here, the Holy Spirit put the child inside of her. It was not sinful, it was not premarital, scandalous, or any type of immorality in that sense. It was a divine act in which God the Holy Spirit placed Christ inside her womb. It was a divine conception. Now, in verse 19, it says, And Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. This is obviously complicated for Joseph. He's expecting his wife to be, to be pure, ready for marriage, and his, but instead she's pregnant, and that could only mean one thing to Joseph. She must have committed adultery or cheated on him, he's thinking. But no, in the betrothal process, uh the Holy Spirit put the baby inside of her. Had it been adultery, this is what would happen in that culture. A woman would have been uh placed in in public. She would have been stoned according to their law. It would have been a very, very loud event. Everybody would have known about it. Now, if she would have lived or for some reason not stoned or escaped all of that, she would have been a social outcast. And her betrothed husband to be, who would who would be victimized by her actions, would in all likelihood keep the dowry payment that had been given by her father, and he would take out all the pain of his betrayal out on her. He would get his pound of flesh. And yet, even the Bible says Joseph, being a righteous man, thought, I'm gonna do this quietly. Craig Keener commentates this yet Joseph could have profited by divorcing Mary publicly. He could have taken her to court, he could have impounded her dowry, the total assets that she brought into marriage, and perhaps recouped the bride price if he had paid one at betrothal. By simply providing her a certificate of divorce in front of two or three witnesses, he would forfeit this economic reimbursement simply to minimize her public dishonor. Joseph was going to divorce Mary, but wounded though he felt, he would do everything in his power to minimize her shame. Why is this important? Well, it speaks to Joseph in this process being righteous. It's a phrase that refers to being a man of the law. And so he wanted to follow it and divorce her, but he was also a man of mercy, and he would do it quietly. That's something we shouldn't overlook when we're talking about the virgin birth because there's another party involved in this situation, and you can already see the kind of father that Jesus was chosen to have on earth. While Joseph was not directly responsible biologically as the father of Jesus, the Holy Spirit is the one who conceived, and Mary would be his mother. God the Father chose a righteous father for his son. It's an example to us of what mercy and grace could look like with those who sin against us. No need to shame them, but there would still be boundaries, and he would not overlook what was just and what was right. But there was just one problem things were not what they seem. In verse 20, it says, But when he had considered this, that verb means to be reflecting on his decision to go through with it. Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. So God intervenes intervenes in a dream and states, She's a virgin. The Bible is very explicit that the Holy Spirit conceived the child inside of her, which means no man did, God did. It's an indication of God's sovereign guidance in the whole situation on behalf of his son. The angel calls him son of David. That would ring a bell for Joseph as a devout Jew. The title is a link to the line of King David through which the Messiah would come. And why is Joseph called this? Because he's going to be the legal adoptive father to the Messiah himself. He says, Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. In other words, don't be afraid of the stigma that will come. There's some of your honor and reputation at stake here. You're marrying a pregnant girl and then telling people, well, the Holy Spirit put the baby in there. Listen, don't be worried about all of this, is what the angel is saying. God is doing something here, and that baby is special. Why is he special? What is so special? Well, verse 21, she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. There's the claim of all claims. And Joseph knew exactly what this meant. Jesus is the Greek name, Yesus, Hebrew name, Joshua or Yeshua. It translates Yahweh saves. And so Joseph knows this is the deliverer of Israel. This is the greater than Moses, the Redeemer of all redeemers, the second Adam through whom salvation would come. And what does it mean that he would save his people from their sins? Well, that means that's the human condition and that's the issue that people need saving from. It's what has long been declared about Jesus, it's the truth about him as the Messiah. I think of Acts chapter 4, verse 12. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. That's a pointing back to the fact that his name is Jesus. Why? Yahweh saves. Because for he will save his people from their sins. It's beautiful choice of words by Matthew. Why? Well, the Jews had this idea that the Messiah, the Savior, would save them from Rome and destroy their enemies. They had their own ideas about salvation and they superimposed them on God. And we do the same thing today. I just need God to save me from my poverty. I just need God to save me from my sickness. I just need God to save me from a bad day. I just need God to save me from stress, my dead-end job, market fluctuations, uh, hard things. And what if God did? What if he did all of that, but he never saved you from your sin? It's all for nothing. Because the number one reason we need saving is because of sin. We need to be set free from pride, entitlement, envy, selfishness, lust, greed, and every other action that grieves the heart of God. Israel was a rebellious and spoiled people who wanted a savior on their terms, but God, knowing what people needed, lovingly chooses to send a savior on his terms. I read this quote recently and it's attributed to a number of different people. So I don't know who gets the credit, but I didn't write this, but it's still good to quote. If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist. And if our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer. But our greatest need was forgiveness. And so God sent us a savior. I love those words. They're all familiar, they're all concepts that we know to be true. If we needed all those things, we can easily get them. But what do we need? Forgiveness. So we needed Christ. The virgin birth is essential because it is attached to the reality that Jesus is the only acceptable savior. And he had to come and be born of a virgin to be that savior. So, based on those truths and those verses, there's three essential aspects of the virgin birth that everyone must believe. If you call yourself a Christian, number one, you need to believe that Jesus was divine. He came from God, not mere human consummation. And the Holy Spirit conceived him inside of Mary. The Bible teaches that. He was not born a child of wrath and with the stain of sin from having two biological parents conceive him. And the ultimate proof of his divinity and the fact that he was conceived by the Spirit was his perfect life. He never sinned. He didn't need salvation as a sinner. Jesus never had to be born again as some crazy word of faith teachers will preach. He was salvation for the sinner. He didn't ever need salvation as a sinner. Number two, you need to believe Jesus was human. In John 14, we read, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Yes, and amen. He came and lived as a human. Storms commentates this the virgin birth alone ensured both the full deity and full humanity of Jesus. If God had created Jesus, a complete human being in heaven and sent him to earth apart from any human parent, it's difficult to see how he could truly be man. And if God had sent his son into the world through both a human father and a human mother, it's difficult to see how he could truly be God. Number three, you've got to believe then. If he's divine and he's human, Jesus saves. It was only his perfect life, lived as a perfect savior, fulfilled with perfect obedience that has perfect power to save hopeless humans from the destruction of sin and death. Only if you believe in Jesus Christ can you be saved. And you know what's so comforting in all this? God planned it. He didn't make this up as he went along. He didn't get halfway through the course of human history and think, well, you know, I better fix this. He planned it all along. And if he can plan details like I'm about to read to you, then he can plan the details of your life. He knows the end from the beginning, tomorrow from today, and you can trust him, whatever you're facing. In Matthew 1, verses 22 to 23, we read, Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet. Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which translated means God with us. You see how Rob Bell is wrong? No, we can't come to the conclusion one day that Jesus was born of some man and woman and his father was named Larry. No, it can't be that the virgin birth isn't essential because prophecy foretold, behold, the virgin shall be with child, and she shall bear a son, and they shall call his name name Emmanuel. God with us, it had to be this way. No one can change that reality. And that prophecy is around 700 years before Christ, and Matthew uses it to prove that the virgin birth is the fulfillment of God's promise to his people. And it highlights another reason that the virgin birth is essential. If the virgin birth is not true, then the Bible is not true. Scripture and its infallibility and its accuracy are proven in the fact that 700 years prior it was said that the virgin will bear a son. And some 700 years later, the virgin bore the son. That truth continues to stand. And we can't overlook that. When you look through the halls of history and you see the essentials of the Christian faith, you've got to see the virgin birth right there around the top of the list, along with the deity of Christ and wonderful truths that we have to hold to as Christians. The passage winds down in verses 24 and 25. And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and he took Mary as his wife, but he kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus. Joseph obeys the angel, he marries Mary eventually, he respects her purity, he doesn't consummate until Christ is born, he calls his name Jesus, and you have the arrival of King Jesus through the virgin birth bringing about something so incredibly significant that the course of history was changed forever and hundreds of prophecies fulfilled. Okay, so that's week two. I hope you're having a wonderful Christmas season. No matter what your circumstances are, each one of these episodes are meant to remind you of the hope of Christ and the true meaning of Christmas. So this week, reflect on the fact that God ordained all things for the birth of his son, that the virgin birth is true, that he was human and can relate to us in our weaknesses. He lived a life like one of us, but never sinned like we do, and yet, conceived of the Spirit, he was divine, able to be salvation for us, because he was not like us in that way, he holds the keys to life as the divine Son of God. In that, you and I can have such perfect peace this Christmas. Next time, I want to get into the topic of peace and answer the question what the birth of Christ means for you, and unpack really what is that peace and how you and I can walk in it every single day. Thanks for listening, thanks for watching, for sharing, and for supporting. To learn more about our ministry or to become a monthly gospel patron or give an end-of-year gift and support what we're doing here, you can go to forthegospel.org and click give. Our ministry purpose is to provide sound doctrine for everyday people, and everything we do is designed to accomplish that. So we're so grateful for your support. We are 100% donor supported, and we're grateful for the way God continues to grow for the gospel. Thanks for being a part of that. I'll be back next Monday with another episode of Keep on Living for the Gospel.