WEBVTT 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:13.919 Ministering to the heart of Western Arkansas's River Valley for over 165 years, welcome to Chapter and First, the Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church. 00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:19.359 You'll find sermons and teachings from Pastor Greg, our ministry staff, and guest speakers. 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:21.199 Thank you for listening. 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:23.359 What a beautiful song. 00:00:23.679 --> 00:00:25.199 Incredible message. 00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:31.760 That image, if you've been in church any amount of time, that image of the Lamb of God, you'll understand what that means. 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:35.280 If not, then that may be a new concept to you. 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:46.079 And when the Bible says that Jesus was the Lamb of God, what he's building is off of that illustration, a running illustration through Scripture. 00:00:46.399 --> 00:00:59.439 When God established the promise of Jesus that he would send Jesus as our Savior, he then created a process of how he brought Jesus into the world to be the Savior. 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:11.519 He first established a people, the Israelites, the Jewish nation, and he structured them in such a way to be designed to be his plan to bring the Savior into the world. 00:01:11.760 --> 00:01:16.879 He created their form of worship and taught them how to worship him. 00:01:17.280 --> 00:01:28.239 And inherent in that process was teaching them about sin and about repentance and that there needed to be a price paid for sin. 00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:34.480 And so he established a form of worship where they would take a lamb that was without spot or blemish. 00:01:34.640 --> 00:01:47.519 It spoke of someone who was without sin, and they would sacrifice a lamb once a year, that perfect life, the picture of that being sacrificed for the sins of the people. 00:01:47.760 --> 00:01:51.760 And that became a prophecy and a picture of who the Messiah would be. 00:01:51.920 --> 00:02:06.079 And so when Jesus is described as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, God has been developing that picture all throughout the Old Testament time to point to us Jesus. 00:02:06.239 --> 00:02:19.520 And what it tells us is that from the very beginning, God's plan was a plan of grace and forgiveness of sins to redeem us from our sins. 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:26.719 And so as we think about Christmas time, this is a perfect time for us to be talking about God's gift of grace. 00:02:26.879 --> 00:02:33.520 You see, that's why Jesus came, but it's also why Jesus came in the way that he did. 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:50.080 And as we move into this Christmas season, where we'll see lots of mangers and lots of babies and lots of that everywhere, I want you to really set your mind on the truth of what all of that means. 00:02:50.479 --> 00:03:02.800 As we talked about last week as we've begun this Discover Jesus series, we talked about the fact that Christmas and Easter are the first and final chapters of the same story and journey. 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:15.199 You cannot discover who Jesus is outside of the fundamental truth of what happened at Christmas and the fundamental truth of the purpose of the cross and the resurrection at Easter. 00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:18.240 And those are inextricably linked. 00:03:18.319 --> 00:03:27.120 In effect, Christmas and Easter are the same purpose, the same journey, the same large event. 00:03:27.840 --> 00:04:07.840 In fact, Christianity, when we talk about Jesus, is very unique from any other religion that has happened during mankind because no other religion, no other faith, no other heritage of trying to find out who God is and how you are saved, however, you want to describe that journey for humankind, no other version of that faith heritage has ever invested as much in the picture of the birth of its iconic person than Christianity. 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:46.000 You have some random sort of weird things thrown into Greek mythology or some of that, but nobody else has staked such ground on prophesying and identifying the birth of the person who was at the center of that faith heritage, identifying it as factually having occurred, because in no other place do you have a Savior like Jesus who can come and be qualified and powerful enough to pay the price for sin and grant eternal life. 00:04:46.240 --> 00:05:00.560 And so the faith and the foundation of faith that is based in the birth of Jesus is integral and foundation to everything we believe about salvation and the gospel. 00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:06.079 In fact, I want you to turn with me in Luke chapter 1, but I want to give you a scripture. 00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:07.279 I just want you to hear it. 00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:13.360 You turn to Luke chapter 1, but I want you to hear the words of the Apostle John in 2 John. 00:05:14.399 --> 00:05:16.000 Here's what he says. 00:05:16.319 --> 00:05:26.319 In verse 7, many deceivers have gone out into the world, and how are they deceivers? 00:05:27.199 --> 00:05:33.120 They do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. 00:05:34.480 --> 00:05:39.920 This is the deceiver and the Antichrist. 00:05:40.399 --> 00:05:54.000 To deny the miraculous and purposeful birth of the way Jesus was born and who it defines him as the Savior, the Bible says is literally to be a liar and a deceiver. 00:05:54.160 --> 00:06:02.240 And so it's important that we take this time, even though it seems a little fundamental, it is very fundamental to who we are. 00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:20.959 And Scripture warns us that those who would deny the coming of Jesus in the flesh and how it happened and how it qualifies him as our Savior are literally liars and deceivers drawing people away from the true gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:06:21.199 --> 00:06:27.680 Let's look in Luke chapter 1 and look at the part now where the angel comes to Mary. 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:38.160 And this is the story, and again, it's familiar to us, but it's important that we delve into these things and we affirm our understanding of the birth of Jesus. 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:54.000 In verse 26, the Bible says, in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph of the house of David. 00:06:54.319 --> 00:06:56.319 The virgin's name was Mary. 00:06:56.480 --> 00:07:02.639 And the angel came to her and said, Rejoice, favored woman, the Lord is with you. 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:08.879 But she was deeply troubled by this statement, wondering what kind of greeting this could be. 00:07:09.040 --> 00:07:14.079 Then the angel told her, Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 00:07:14.319 --> 00:07:19.600 And that word favor could also be translated the word grace. 00:07:19.920 --> 00:07:22.480 For you have found grace with God. 00:07:22.879 --> 00:07:32.000 And all throughout, an understanding of who Jesus is as our Savior, it is all the principle of God's grace. 00:07:32.319 --> 00:07:38.160 He sent Jesus because of his grace to establish salvation. 00:07:39.360 --> 00:07:42.800 Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found grace with God. 00:07:43.040 --> 00:07:49.040 Now listen, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will call him Jesus. 00:07:49.279 --> 00:07:53.920 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High. 00:07:54.079 --> 00:07:58.079 And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. 00:07:58.319 --> 00:08:04.240 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. 00:08:05.199 --> 00:08:11.279 Mary asked the angel, How can this be, since I have not been intimate with a man? 00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:20.480 And the angel replied to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. 00:08:20.959 --> 00:08:26.879 Therefore, the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God. 00:08:27.199 --> 00:08:41.679 And consider your relative Elizabeth, even she has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who is called childless, for nothing will be impossible with God. 00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:45.600 And Mary responds in obedience and says, I am the Lord's slave. 00:08:45.840 --> 00:08:47.919 May it be done to me according to your word. 00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:50.159 Then the angel left her. 00:08:50.399 --> 00:08:59.759 Now here's what I want you to see, and I want two truths that I want you to think about as we unpack this story again of Jesus coming. 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:06.399 Two things I want you to reflect about, and I hope you can take these with you through the Christmas season the next week. 00:09:06.639 --> 00:09:13.279 First of all, Jesus came for the sole purpose of accomplishing salvation as a result of God's grace. 00:09:13.440 --> 00:09:18.879 The Bible says in Ephesians chapter 2, for by grace are you saved through faith. 00:09:19.200 --> 00:09:39.679 Jesus came for the sole purpose, God's intentional design to create a means to pay the price for our sins so our sins could be forgiven, so we would not be under the judgment of those sins, and so that we could spend an eternity in his presence, redeemed back to be in relationship with him. 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:44.080 You see, all of us are sinners by birth, by nature, and by choice. 00:09:44.399 --> 00:09:46.559 Sin entered into the world through Adam. 00:09:46.639 --> 00:09:48.879 All of us are born with that sin nature. 00:09:49.039 --> 00:09:56.080 All of us have done things we know that are wrong, and the Bible calls that sin, and sin must be punished. 00:09:56.159 --> 00:10:02.879 A holy God cannot allow sin to exist or be into his presence, and so he punishes sin. 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:08.320 But Jesus was the promise of God to forgive sin. 00:10:08.480 --> 00:10:23.279 As we talked about last week, from the very moment of human sin, God stepped in with his desire and his plan to forgive our sins by sending Jesus to be the Lamb of God, as the choir sang about. 00:10:23.679 --> 00:10:34.559 And so Jesus' sole purpose and coming, all of it is wrapped into the truth of He came to accomplish God's gracious forgiveness of sin. 00:10:34.799 --> 00:10:39.919 And you can never understand or discover who Jesus is outside of that purpose. 00:10:40.159 --> 00:10:55.360 But here's the second thing I want you to see today: the means of Jesus coming, how God accomplished bringing the Savior into the world reflects the same truth of grace as Jesus coming itself. 00:10:56.399 --> 00:11:01.200 When we talk about Jesus comes, sometimes we look just to that moment when Jesus came. 00:11:04.799 --> 00:11:08.639 And we understand that Jesus came and that he did that for us. 00:11:08.960 --> 00:11:18.159 But what's incredible that Scripture teaches us is that God's design has been to forgive and grace from the very beginning. 00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:28.879 In the way that he unfolds the bringing of Jesus, shows his grace and his desire that Jesus would be our Savior. 00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:40.000 And so he is trying to teach us through the process and the means of bringing Jesus into the world why he was sending Jesus to be our Savior. 00:11:40.240 --> 00:11:57.600 And so, in all of these moments, in all of these patterns, in all of these plans that God creates to bring about bringing Jesus, he is showing his grace fully throughout that, every bit as much as he shows his grace in the sending of Jesus. 00:11:57.759 --> 00:12:03.360 Let me try to illustrate that from a few things in this passage of Scripture here. 00:12:03.519 --> 00:12:10.320 The first is that the lineage of Jesus clearly shows God's gracious purpose. 00:12:10.639 --> 00:12:26.159 God unfolded this person, had this person, who had this person, who had this person, who had this person for generation after generation after generation after generation, through the Jewish people, then through a family, and then through a line, and then Jesus is born to Mary. 00:12:26.559 --> 00:12:39.600 In the lineage of David, in the lineage of Jesus, we see an incredible amount of truths that are pointing to God's grace and purpose in sending a Savior. 00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:47.440 First of all, as he speaks to Mary here in this passage of Scripture, it makes very clear this idea. 00:12:47.679 --> 00:12:59.600 It says, gives us the facts that Gabriel was sent to a town in Galilee called Nazareth to a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph of the house of David. 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:07.840 You see, the way God unfolded the bringing of salvation, he gave a promise after the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned. 00:13:07.919 --> 00:13:09.120 We looked at that last week. 00:13:09.279 --> 00:13:11.279 God said, I'm going to send you a savior. 00:13:11.440 --> 00:13:14.240 And then over time, he began to unfold that plan. 00:13:14.399 --> 00:13:20.639 And he had a man named Abraham, and he gave a promise to him if you will be obedient and follow me, I will make you a great nation. 00:13:20.879 --> 00:13:28.000 And through your line and the nation that we create, I promise that I will bring a savior. 00:13:28.240 --> 00:13:30.080 And so he gave a covenant to Abraham. 00:13:30.159 --> 00:13:34.399 And then you have Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the establishment of the Jewish people. 00:13:34.559 --> 00:13:41.200 And through the Jewish people and the Jewish nation, God shows and reveals he's going to bring his Savior through them. 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:43.360 And then there is a king that is raised. 00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:48.799 His name is David, and you understand King David, and God re-establishes a covenant with David. 00:13:48.960 --> 00:13:52.639 I'm going to use your line to bring the Savior into the world. 00:13:52.799 --> 00:13:56.080 My Savior will come through your line. 00:13:56.240 --> 00:14:10.159 And so here in the lineage of Jesus, we see specifically God is identifying Jesus as his Savior by saying, He is coming exactly the way I said he would. 00:14:10.320 --> 00:14:13.919 He is coming through the line of David. 00:14:14.320 --> 00:14:27.440 Now, you have two places where you're will give be given lineage, and it's important because the angel tells Mary, and she understands as a Jewish young lady exactly what's happening. 00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:36.639 When the angel says he will be, in verse 32, he will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord will give him the throne of his father David. 00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:39.519 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. 00:14:39.759 --> 00:14:41.200 She understands. 00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:48.000 This angel is telling me that I am going to give birth to the Messiah. 00:14:48.559 --> 00:14:50.080 That's who this is. 00:14:50.559 --> 00:15:01.200 This is the person, the Redeemer, the Messiah that God has promised and He has identified Him as being through the line of David. 00:15:01.360 --> 00:15:05.840 Now you have two places in Scripture where the lineage of Jesus is given. 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:10.320 Now you have to understand in Jewish culture that lineage was vitally important. 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:15.519 They spent an incredible amount of time tracking and keeping their lineage. 00:15:15.679 --> 00:15:18.799 Now that hadn't been that culture in America. 00:15:19.039 --> 00:15:20.879 In fact, we didn't do that for so long. 00:15:21.039 --> 00:15:28.960 Now there's businesses and places you can go, and people are getting interested in trying to find their lineage and trace it all the way back as best they can. 00:15:29.120 --> 00:15:31.039 The Jewish nation never lost that. 00:15:31.279 --> 00:15:42.559 It was vital to them because what happened is their structure of inheritance and passing things on and all of that was all designed through lineage. 00:15:42.720 --> 00:15:50.399 It was all designed through understanding who your family was, who the firstborn was, where you came from, and all of that. 00:15:50.639 --> 00:15:55.919 Lineage was vital because in order to be a king, you had to come from that line of kings. 00:15:56.080 --> 00:16:05.039 In order to be a priest, you had to have a lineage that was established through the tribe of Levi, one of the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel. 00:16:05.200 --> 00:16:07.440 And so lineage was vitally important. 00:16:08.320 --> 00:16:14.240 In Jesus being identified, the Savior will be of the line and lineage of David. 00:16:14.399 --> 00:16:22.559 It was vital that that lineage be clear to identify him as the Savior and to show God faithful to meet that promise. 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:27.519 And so what you have two places in Scripture where you have Jesus' lineage established. 00:16:27.679 --> 00:16:34.080 You have in the book of Matthew, you have at the beginning of the book of Matthew, the lineage of David. 00:16:34.240 --> 00:16:37.039 Now, Matthew was written with a particular purpose. 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:43.679 It was written to identify the Savior to the Jewish people and to evangelize the Jewish people. 00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:50.000 And so it was written from a perspective of explaining that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. 00:16:50.159 --> 00:16:55.120 And so what you have there is the lineage of David through the line of Joseph. 00:16:55.600 --> 00:17:04.559 And you have, it begins from the time of Abraham because he is the father of the Jewish nation, as God established that. 00:17:04.720 --> 00:17:09.759 It is that first covenant to use the Jewish people to bring the Savior into the world. 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:20.000 And he gives the paternal lineage of Jesus through the line of Joseph's family. 00:17:20.559 --> 00:17:26.160 In Luke chapter 3, you have another lineage of Jesus. 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:34.400 And if you look at it, the names in some places are different, and the names down in the beginning generations are the same. 00:17:34.640 --> 00:17:35.599 Why is that? 00:17:35.839 --> 00:17:52.559 In the book of Luke, which was written as a definitive, orderly, time, chronological, factual history of the life of Jesus that was written to affirm to the world that Jesus is the Savior of the world. 00:17:52.720 --> 00:18:00.720 What you have there in the book of Luke is the lineage of Jesus through his mother's line, through Mary's family and line. 00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:18.319 And what you do is you find and you trace back Joseph's lineage went through the line of David and the house of David with one son, and Mary's lineage goes down and traces back to another son of David. 00:18:18.559 --> 00:18:46.720 And so if you will look at it from both the mother and the father lines, Jesus is entitled to the title of King of the Jews, and he fulfills in both of his parents the promise that the Messiah would come through the throne or the line of David, through the covenant that was given to David, that he would be the one who brings his line would be the one who brings the Savior into the world. 00:18:46.880 --> 00:18:48.480 It's an incredible picture. 00:18:48.720 --> 00:18:51.839 But then you have another truth that's even more fascinating. 00:18:52.160 --> 00:19:06.000 The breadth of people and circumstances in the line, the people who are included in the line and lineage of Jesus, they show that God has intended him graciously to be a savior. 00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:21.680 Now you think if he's going to bring Jesus into the world, if he's going to identify Jesus as the Savior, if I were doing it, I would pick the best families in the world with the greatest testimonies and all the greatest pictures, and I would make that as pure as I possibly could. 00:19:21.839 --> 00:19:23.519 Wouldn't that make sense? 00:19:23.920 --> 00:19:31.680 But that's not what God did, because his design is to show us what we looked at last week in John 3.16. 00:19:31.759 --> 00:19:38.880 For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whosoever believes in him would never perish but have everlasting life. 00:19:39.039 --> 00:19:48.960 And so he includes in his line this incredibly expansive story of people from all kinds of races and backgrounds. 00:19:49.200 --> 00:19:54.799 People who were great people, but people who were also deeply flawed sinners. 00:19:55.039 --> 00:20:05.359 And yet they are included in the lineage of Jesus for God to make the point that everyone, everyone, Jesus came for to save. 00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:07.920 Just give you a couple of examples. 00:20:08.400 --> 00:20:11.839 There is a person who's famous, you've heard of. 00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:13.839 Her name is Rahab. 00:20:14.240 --> 00:20:20.079 And she is included in the line of the lineage of Jesus. 00:20:20.240 --> 00:20:21.519 Who was Rahab? 00:20:21.680 --> 00:20:55.680 Just to remind you, if you go to the book of Joshua, when you find the children of Israel have come out of bondage in Egypt, they've wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, letting a generation that didn't have the faith to go into the land of Canaan die off, and then Moses dies and Joshua becomes the leader, and God brings them back to the land of Canaan, and he's about to send them in to conquer the land of Canaan, which will be the land that we now refer to as Israel in modern-day life, the place where the Jewish people would become that nation that God would use to bring the Savior in. 00:20:55.920 --> 00:21:00.960 The first place that they come to in conquering the land of Canaan is a city called Jericho. 00:21:01.359 --> 00:21:09.279 It is a fortress city on the main road that intersects Israel, the land of Israel, or the land of Canaan at that time. 00:21:09.359 --> 00:21:12.000 And so it is the first place they have to come to. 00:21:12.160 --> 00:21:19.039 And you remember the story of God told them to walk around the walls seven times and all of that, and he brought the walls down. 00:21:19.680 --> 00:21:23.119 In preparation for that, he sent some spies into the land. 00:21:23.200 --> 00:21:41.680 They go into Jericho, and a Gentile woman in the nation, people, nation state there in Canaan of Jericho, that were pagans that worshipped evil gods in horrible ways, she, the Bible says, even was a prostitute. 00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:52.400 She hides these spies and protects them from the sheriff and those who would try to take them and kill them as Israeli spies. 00:21:52.640 --> 00:21:59.759 And she hides them and then helps them escape so that they can go back and make their report to Joshua and the people come. 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:04.799 And they conquer the land, they conquer the city of Jericho. 00:22:05.119 --> 00:22:12.559 Rahab then said, I know and trust that the God of Israel is the one true God. 00:22:12.720 --> 00:22:15.680 That's why she hid them, that's why she helped them. 00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:21.839 And she pled with them, please remember me when you come in and conquer Jericho. 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:32.480 They told her, the armies of God will remember you and honor your effort in helping us if you will hang a scarlet cord in the window of your home. 00:22:32.720 --> 00:22:44.640 And as they went through conquering that city of Jericho, when they came to her house and they saw that scarlet cord that was there, they knew from their pre-battle briefings that was Rahab. 00:22:44.720 --> 00:22:47.920 She was the one that placed her faith in Jehovah God. 00:22:48.079 --> 00:22:54.160 And she is the one who has said she believes that our God is the one true God, and she is the one who's hid our spies. 00:22:54.319 --> 00:23:00.000 And so they rescue her and her family and they take her into the Jewish people. 00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:04.880 She marries a Jewish man and becomes a part of the line of Jesus. 00:23:05.119 --> 00:23:06.640 It's an incredible picture. 00:23:06.799 --> 00:23:12.079 It's one of my mother's favorite pictures in Scripture, and we talk about it every Christmas. 00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:26.960 It is a picture that Jesus was being sent as the Savior, but all along the way, God is identifying that He loves you and that He is coming to forgive sin and He is reaching out to everyone to give them a chance to come into redemption. 00:23:27.119 --> 00:23:33.759 And so she is brought into the wine, and she is brought into that for the purpose of showing us God's grace. 00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:37.279 You have another woman who's famous, uh, Ruth. 00:23:37.440 --> 00:23:41.519 There's a short book about this woman in the Old Testament. 00:23:41.839 --> 00:23:44.400 We think of that as a great love story. 00:23:44.559 --> 00:23:51.920 Ruth's husband died, and she's a young widow, and she's there in Israel, and Boaz redeems her and this whole romantic thing. 00:23:52.079 --> 00:23:56.079 But we don't think about how we got to the story of Ruth. 00:23:56.319 --> 00:24:06.720 The way we get to the story of Ruth is Jewish people are under the Jewish law, and the Jewish law makes it a sin to marry outside the Jewish faith. 00:24:06.880 --> 00:24:13.920 All throughout the Old Testament, there were numbers of times when God tells them, do not marry outside the Jewish faith. 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:15.279 It is a sin to do that. 00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:21.279 Do not bring the false gods of those false religions into the Jewish people. 00:24:21.440 --> 00:24:27.279 When they are going into the land of Israel, Joshua and the leaders, God warns them multiple times. 00:24:27.519 --> 00:24:34.960 When you get into the land of Canaan, do not intermarry with the pagan religions and the pagan people that live in that land. 00:24:35.039 --> 00:24:37.200 You are to conquer them and drive them out. 00:24:37.359 --> 00:24:45.839 We are establishing a pure picture of Jesus who had come to accomplish God's purpose of bringing the Savior into the world. 00:24:46.559 --> 00:24:54.720 There's a man and a woman who are Jewish man and a woman, and they move outside of that area where the Jews are living. 00:24:54.880 --> 00:24:57.440 They move into the land of the Moabites. 00:24:57.599 --> 00:25:05.119 And if you do any study in the Old Testament, they are some of the worst and most vile pagans in all of the Old Testament. 00:25:05.359 --> 00:25:10.240 They are one of the most rotten enemies of the people of Israel. 00:25:10.480 --> 00:25:21.039 This Jewish man and his wife, they have two sons, and they take them into a pagan city, and those two sons marry pagan Moabite daughters. 00:25:21.279 --> 00:25:27.200 I mean, these are terrible examples of the Jewish people, disobedient to God's Jewish laws. 00:25:27.440 --> 00:25:34.240 They marry outside of the Jewish faith, they marry these pagan women, and one of them is named Ruth. 00:25:34.559 --> 00:25:36.480 She's a Moabitus. 00:25:37.039 --> 00:25:55.200 And so what happens is the two husbands die, the father-in-law dies, the two sons die, the mother is left as a widow, the two daughter-in-laws are left as widows, and the mother goes into depression and says, Listen, I'm just gonna go home and maybe somebody there will take care of me. 00:25:55.279 --> 00:25:57.839 You two girls are from here, y'all just stay here. 00:25:58.079 --> 00:26:17.119 And Ruth speaks to her mother-in-law and says, Nope, even through your, she doesn't say it this way, but even through your bad example of being a Jewish follower, I have discovered that your God is the true God. 00:26:17.599 --> 00:26:22.960 And she says, Wherever you go, I will go, and your God will be my God. 00:26:23.359 --> 00:26:35.119 And she follows Naomi back to Israel and then begins the love story where Boaz marries her, and it is an incredible picture of Jesus. 00:26:35.440 --> 00:26:41.119 In fact, the process that he marries her is called the kinsman redeemer process. 00:26:41.279 --> 00:26:48.079 I don't have time to go into it, but even in this very name, you understand it's a picture of Jesus because he is the Redeemer. 00:26:48.400 --> 00:27:05.839 Another pagan woman, another person outside the Jewish faith, another person that you would never think would taint the line of Jesus, and yet God brings them into the line to show us that God so loved the world that he gave his only son. 00:27:06.400 --> 00:27:12.640 That whosoever believes in him will never perish, but have everlasting life. 00:27:12.880 --> 00:27:18.799 And so, even in how God accomplishes it, he identifies his gracious purpose. 00:27:19.119 --> 00:27:25.519 Second thing, the miraculous nature of Jesus' conception shows God's gracious purpose. 00:27:25.680 --> 00:27:28.559 Again, if you'll look at it, here's what he says. 00:27:29.599 --> 00:27:36.559 Twice he says virgin and specifies her as someone who is a virgin. 00:27:36.799 --> 00:27:42.720 The third reference you have, how can this be since I've not been intimate with a man? 00:27:43.039 --> 00:27:49.519 God is making clear from the prophecy to Mary in the book of Luke. 00:27:49.839 --> 00:27:56.319 He is factually establishing the history that this is how Jesus was born. 00:27:56.640 --> 00:27:59.279 She says, I don't understand how this is going to happen. 00:27:59.359 --> 00:28:06.640 And God says, You have found grace, and through that grace to you, I am going to use you to graciously bring a Savior. 00:28:06.799 --> 00:28:10.799 And then He makes this very clear explanation to her. 00:28:17.279 --> 00:28:26.640 In other words, she was miraculously made pregnant and given the opportunity to bear a child. 00:28:26.960 --> 00:28:44.880 Therefore, because he is not born through the biological process and all of that, because he is born miraculously by the work of the Holy Spirit, the Holy One to be born, will be called the Son of God. 00:28:45.440 --> 00:28:46.720 The Son of God. 00:28:46.960 --> 00:28:49.519 He is not actually Joseph's son. 00:28:50.079 --> 00:28:54.480 He is not actually born in the way that you and I were. 00:28:54.720 --> 00:28:55.279 Why? 00:28:55.519 --> 00:29:04.720 Because through the biological process of mother and father and child, and they get married, and mother, father, and child, and all of that, the sin nature is passed out. 00:29:04.880 --> 00:29:08.480 And we talked about that in detail last week, but I want you to show you why. 00:29:08.640 --> 00:29:20.720 The Bible even affirms in the lineage of Mary in Luke chapter 3, it begins this way, uh, in um in verse 23. 00:29:21.839 --> 00:29:32.960 As he began his ministry, Jesus was about 30 years old and was thought to be the son of Joseph. 00:29:33.200 --> 00:29:34.079 You get that? 00:29:34.319 --> 00:29:35.759 He's making it very clear. 00:29:35.920 --> 00:29:42.480 He is going through the line of Mary, but the way that you would state that in Jewish culture was through the fathers. 00:29:42.640 --> 00:29:52.079 And so what he does is to keep that pattern of how Jews would say their lineage, but he makes very clear that Jesus was not the son of Joseph. 00:29:52.400 --> 00:29:56.640 He was thought to be the son of Joseph because he's actually the son of God. 00:29:56.880 --> 00:29:58.240 Why does that matter? 00:29:58.559 --> 00:30:03.680 Because in order for Jesus to be the Savior, first of all, he had to be a human. 00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:09.200 For the wages of sin is death, and a human must die for human sin. 00:30:09.359 --> 00:30:12.640 And so a savior would have to be a human. 00:30:14.960 --> 00:30:32.000 But you have to have a human who can live a sinless life, one who can carry that burden, who can fight the temptation, who can live sinlessly and then go to the cross and conquer death and sin and author new life through salvation. 00:30:32.240 --> 00:30:44.720 And so the Bible makes it clear that Jesus was human as born through Mary, but he is the Son of God conceived by the work of the Holy Spirit. 00:30:45.039 --> 00:30:50.000 Often in church life, we use this phrase: he was the God man. 00:30:50.400 --> 00:30:53.279 He was fully God and fully man. 00:30:54.079 --> 00:31:02.000 Now that's not some strange concoction that theologians somewhere have made up to try to make this miracle make sense. 00:31:02.160 --> 00:31:03.519 It is not that at all. 00:31:03.680 --> 00:31:08.319 It is taught throughout Scripture and is fundamental to our belief. 00:31:08.640 --> 00:31:11.440 Jesus was God and he was man. 00:31:11.839 --> 00:31:14.240 He was not half man and half God. 00:31:14.400 --> 00:31:21.920 He was all man so that he could die for our sins and he was all God so we could have the power and the ability to do that. 00:31:22.160 --> 00:31:27.519 It is mind-boggling, it is a miracle, but it is a biblical truth. 00:31:27.920 --> 00:31:29.759 Here's what the Bible tells us. 00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:32.240 Over and over, it gives us pictures of this. 00:31:32.400 --> 00:31:34.880 Let me just give you a couple of scriptures real quickly. 00:31:35.200 --> 00:31:40.079 First of all, in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, the Bible says this. 00:31:40.400 --> 00:31:46.720 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. 00:31:47.039 --> 00:32:02.640 For since death came through a man, Adam, Adam sinned, Eve sinned through them, the line of sin, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man. 00:32:02.960 --> 00:32:09.680 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:22.960 So Jesus, as he dies for our sins, and then is resurrected, and we place our faith in him, his death as a human man, his shed blood plays the price for our sin. 00:32:23.200 --> 00:32:24.799 Let me give you a couple of other scriptures. 00:32:24.880 --> 00:32:26.799 Just write these references down. 00:32:27.039 --> 00:32:29.279 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 5. 00:32:29.440 --> 00:32:31.119 1 Timothy 2, verse 5. 00:32:31.359 --> 00:32:44.880 For there is one God and one mediator between God and humanity, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself a ransom for all. 00:32:45.519 --> 00:32:48.480 Galatians chapter 4, verses 4 and 5. 00:32:48.640 --> 00:32:50.559 Galatians chapter 4, verses 4 and 5. 00:32:50.799 --> 00:33:05.759 When the time came for completion, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 00:33:05.920 --> 00:33:07.279 How did he redeem us? 00:33:07.519 --> 00:33:17.359 He was born under the law, and where the law points out that all of us are sinners, Jesus did not sin, and so he could die and be pay the price for our sins. 00:33:17.519 --> 00:33:20.160 Colossians chapter 1, verses 19 and 20. 00:33:20.319 --> 00:33:22.720 Colossians chapter 1, verses 19 and 20. 00:33:22.960 --> 00:33:41.599 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Jesus, and through Jesus to reconcile everything to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross, whether things on earth or things in heaven. 00:33:41.759 --> 00:33:48.720 So what the Bible says is the fullness of God was in the person of Jesus, and yet he shed human blood on the cross. 00:33:48.880 --> 00:33:51.359 Let me show you this last patch of scripture on the screen. 00:33:51.599 --> 00:33:54.960 Hebrews chapter 2 explains it this way. 00:33:55.440 --> 00:34:14.639 Now, since the children have flesh and blood in common, all of us are human, flesh and blood, Jesus also shared in these, so that through his death he might destroy the one holding the power of death, that is the devil, and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death. 00:34:14.800 --> 00:34:19.199 In other words, we are slaves to the fear of death and to death because of our sin. 00:34:19.440 --> 00:34:24.239 And Jesus became a person, a human, so that he could die for our sins. 00:34:24.400 --> 00:34:32.239 For it is clear that he does not reach out to help angels, but to help Abraham's offspring, to help humans, to help people, to help us. 00:34:32.400 --> 00:34:43.599 Therefore, he had to be like his brothers in every way, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God to make payment for the sins of the people. 00:34:44.320 --> 00:34:46.719 God sent Jesus. 00:34:47.039 --> 00:34:53.199 He himself was tested and suffered, so he is able to help those who are tested. 00:34:53.360 --> 00:35:09.920 In other words, the things and the temptations and the tests and the struggles that result in our sin, that cause us to sin, the temptations that we follow and fall into and we fail into so that we become sinners, Jesus went through all of those experiences as a person. 00:35:10.239 --> 00:35:15.840 He became all man so he could go through all of those, so he could then die on the cross for us. 00:35:16.000 --> 00:35:21.440 He could pay the price for all of those sins, all of those failures, all of those struggles that we have. 00:35:21.599 --> 00:35:23.119 Jesus did that for us. 00:35:23.360 --> 00:35:34.320 And when you look at that baby who was born, you need to immediately be reminded that Jesus came for you for a purpose so that he could die in our place. 00:35:35.039 --> 00:35:58.880 That baby is human and would go through everything that we go through and do it perfectly because he was also the fullness of the person of God and the person of Jesus with the power to walk through life, to conquer life in sin, to die as a substitute for our sins and to raise again, offering us new life. 00:35:59.199 --> 00:36:04.000 All throughout this process of the birth, we see God's grace. 00:36:04.400 --> 00:36:06.559 Here's the final thing as we close this morning. 00:36:06.960 --> 00:36:14.639 I want you to see this that God identifies his gracious purpose in personal and specific ways. 00:36:15.280 --> 00:36:23.119 We are not having it may seem a little bit like a theology class, or it may seem a little bit like a Bible class today. 00:36:24.000 --> 00:36:32.239 But this is not a philosophy, it's not a religion class, these are not principles that are high and elevated up here. 00:36:32.719 --> 00:36:38.639 Jesus did all of this for each and every person who ever hears the gospel. 00:36:39.920 --> 00:36:41.920 Jesus did this for you. 00:36:42.800 --> 00:36:44.239 For God so loved the world. 00:36:44.320 --> 00:36:52.000 But just as Gary Thomas said in that song, yes, he died for the world, but he died for each and every person in the world. 00:36:52.960 --> 00:37:14.800 Jesus was identified so that every individual who reads this scripture, every individual who has a follower of who is a follower of Jesus Christ, who brings that gospel into their lives, who shares Jesus with them, every one of those times, it is God intervening in a person's life to tell them I love you and Jesus died for you. 00:37:16.000 --> 00:37:26.880 Again, in the process of how God accomplished bringing Jesus, he illustrates his grace, including that he speaks in personal and specific ways. 00:37:27.440 --> 00:37:29.199 Now, what is this stuff about? 00:37:29.360 --> 00:37:32.079 Consider your relative Elizabeth. 00:37:32.320 --> 00:37:40.400 You know the story, you understand that Elizabeth and her husband, who was a priest, were old and well past the childbearing age. 00:37:40.559 --> 00:37:56.960 And an angel shows up to the husband and says, You and your elderly wife are going to miraculously have a son, and he is going to be the prophet that points out the person of the Messiah who comes. 00:37:57.360 --> 00:38:05.840 And this prophet, this preacher, is a prophecy to identify Jesus as the Savior. 00:38:06.079 --> 00:38:08.400 And so God is prophesied in the Old Testament. 00:38:08.559 --> 00:38:13.119 There would be what he calls a forerunner, or a prophet who comes to identify the Savior. 00:38:13.280 --> 00:38:19.679 And he comes to Zechariah and Elizabeth and he says, Your son is going to be that person, and I'm going to give you this miraculous birth. 00:38:19.840 --> 00:38:24.159 Well, it turns out that God uses a cousin of Mary. 00:38:26.400 --> 00:38:27.039 Why? 00:38:27.280 --> 00:38:29.039 God didn't have to do it that way. 00:38:29.280 --> 00:38:33.760 There's no prophecy that the prophet would be miraculously born. 00:38:34.320 --> 00:38:46.000 But God understood as he's giving this grace into Mary's life, that it's shocking to come up to a young lady and say you're going to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit. 00:38:46.559 --> 00:38:51.039 It's incredible for her to realize nobody's going to believe me. 00:38:51.280 --> 00:39:00.480 Can you imagine, dads, you have your teenage daughter come home and she tells you it wasn't the boyfriend, it was the Holy Spirit? 00:39:01.119 --> 00:39:03.280 I mean, seriously, can you imagine that? 00:39:03.519 --> 00:39:14.639 Can you imagine someone who visits our church and they're asking for needs and they're in trouble, or they go to our first choices partner down the street on Grand Avenue and they say, Listen, I'm going to have this baby and I don't know how this happened. 00:39:14.800 --> 00:39:16.400 The Holy Spirit did this to me. 00:39:16.639 --> 00:39:17.599 Can you imagine? 00:39:17.760 --> 00:39:20.000 Is anybody gonna believe that story? 00:39:20.960 --> 00:39:21.280 No. 00:39:22.079 --> 00:39:26.239 And so Mary is not only thinking, I don't believe this story. 00:39:26.719 --> 00:39:30.000 How in the world are my parents gonna believe this story? 00:39:30.320 --> 00:39:33.840 How am I gonna, how am I gonna process all of this? 00:39:34.159 --> 00:39:35.920 Her mind is immediately running. 00:39:36.239 --> 00:39:38.559 Man, it shows up when you're pregnant. 00:39:38.880 --> 00:39:40.719 It's kind of obvious. 00:39:41.360 --> 00:39:43.760 Everybody's gonna know I'm not married. 00:39:44.000 --> 00:39:50.559 So they're either gonna think that Joseph and I are living in sin or I'm running around. 00:39:50.880 --> 00:39:52.480 How's this gonna work? 00:39:53.119 --> 00:39:58.400 God understands in his grace that she's going to need encouragement in this journey. 00:39:58.639 --> 00:40:14.719 And so what God does is he miraculously selects a cousin, a cousin, and he uses a process to bring a miracle birth into life to fulfill that prophecy and connect it to the person of Jesus, but also connect this family to Mary. 00:40:14.960 --> 00:40:21.119 And he says, Mary, listen, your cousin Elizabeth is now pregnant with a child. 00:40:21.280 --> 00:40:23.360 She's thinking, Elizabeth? 00:40:23.840 --> 00:40:25.519 She's like 87. 00:40:26.079 --> 00:40:27.519 How does that work? 00:40:28.320 --> 00:40:31.599 That's as strange as telling me I'm gonna have a child. 00:40:32.159 --> 00:40:34.159 And the angel says, That's the point. 00:40:35.679 --> 00:40:37.119 Consider your cousin. 00:40:37.760 --> 00:40:46.800 God's already done something miraculously to encourage you, to walk alongside you, to affirm the truth of the gospel. 00:40:47.119 --> 00:40:56.320 Mary, I need you to know personally, individually, that I love you and you are in my grace, and this is a part of the process. 00:40:56.960 --> 00:41:12.719 And so God steps into her life and creates in his macro plan of being a savior the minuscule detail of bringing truth and encouragement into her life. 00:41:13.360 --> 00:41:16.159 In fact, I believe you see that all throughout Mary's life. 00:41:16.480 --> 00:41:21.519 The Bible says you have found favor with God. 00:41:22.239 --> 00:41:26.079 Imagine the stress of the journey of being the mother of Jesus. 00:41:26.639 --> 00:41:38.000 Imagine the stress of living with the gossips, saying, Yeah, they told that like virgin story or whatever, but we all know that's not true. 00:41:38.400 --> 00:41:55.280 In fact, the Bible says that in Jesus' life and in Mary's life later on, the town where they were raised, they never gave up the story and they always gossiped about them, about Jesus being born in sin by a mother who was a sinner. 00:41:56.239 --> 00:41:59.360 And yet she walked that journey with Jesus. 00:41:59.599 --> 00:42:22.880 You think about the fact that as Jesus is learning and he's beginning to study scripture and they study God's word together, and Mary and Joseph are having family devotion time, and they come to Psalm 22 that we mentioned last week, and they begin to read Psalm 22, and they are reminded of all of the crucifixions that they've seen up and down the road in every highway that they've ever taken. 00:42:22.960 --> 00:42:35.840 And they begin to read Psalm 22, and Jesus, as a teenager, begins to unpack that scripture, and his mother has to sit there and watch the light bulbs go off in his life, that that's going to happen to me. 00:42:36.639 --> 00:43:07.280 What I am seeing is where I am headed, and the mother's heart to have to grow him through that process and pastor him and encourage him and parent him through all of that in her own heart, knowing that my child that I gave birth to, that God gave me, that I nursed, is going to hang on that cross and die in that way. 00:43:08.559 --> 00:43:11.519 God encouraged her because he knew she would need it. 00:43:11.760 --> 00:43:27.679 In fact, when you think about the grace God's given to Mary, if you go read the story of a group of ladies who had prepared Jesus' body when he came off the cross and they took him and they buried him quickly without finishing the process in a borrowed tomb. 00:43:27.840 --> 00:43:59.760 On what we celebrate as Easter, that same group of women, they came to that tomb, and I believe Mary was in that group of women, and they are there, and they walk up to that empty tomb, and God is with Mary in that moment, giving her that grace that she is in the first group that sees that Jesus was raised from the dead, and that he conquered death and sin, and that God was true to his promise, and his grace was powerful and personal and specific in her. 00:44:00.239 --> 00:44:00.719 Life. 00:44:02.000 --> 00:44:09.519 God speaks and moves specifically in the hearts and the lives of individuals. 00:44:10.480 --> 00:44:18.000 God puts you in a spot where you can hear the story of Jesus so that you will know I'm speaking to you. 00:44:18.559 --> 00:44:23.440 The Holy Spirit convicts of sin and speaks of the truth of Scripture. 00:44:23.679 --> 00:44:28.880 He speaks to your heart and he engages you because he loves you as an individual. 00:44:29.199 --> 00:44:35.119 Sitting in this room, there are people that God is speaking to you directly, watching on television, the internet. 00:44:35.519 --> 00:44:36.800 Why do you think you're here? 00:44:36.960 --> 00:44:39.519 Why in this moment are you in this place? 00:44:39.760 --> 00:44:42.960 Because God loves you and He is speaking to you. 00:44:43.840 --> 00:44:48.639 It has nothing to do with me, it has nothing to do with First Baptist, it has nothing to do with our choir. 00:44:48.880 --> 00:44:56.800 You are here hearing this message because God is intervening personally in your life with the gospel to tell you that he loves you. 00:44:58.559 --> 00:45:00.639 You're just making that up, preacher. 00:45:01.039 --> 00:45:03.679 And why would he do that in Mary's life? 00:45:04.960 --> 00:45:11.440 Why would he orchestrate the whole process to encourage a young girl? 00:45:13.519 --> 00:45:15.360 I have given you grace. 00:45:16.880 --> 00:45:18.159 I love you. 00:45:19.039 --> 00:45:25.440 And yes, the Savior is for the world, but the Savior is for you. 00:45:26.480 --> 00:45:28.960 And this morning I want to encourage you. 00:45:29.360 --> 00:45:37.840 When you see that baby, I want you to know it is the accomplishment of God's grace for you. 00:45:39.360 --> 00:45:40.000 For you. 00:45:47.440 --> 00:45:48.320 Jesus loves you. 00:45:48.480 --> 00:45:50.639 He came and he died for you. 00:45:51.039 --> 00:45:52.880 He was qualified to die for you. 00:45:52.960 --> 00:45:54.480 He was powerful to die for you. 00:45:54.639 --> 00:45:57.360 He was identified specifically as the Savior. 00:45:57.519 --> 00:46:08.960 If you have never trusted Christ as your Savior, whether you're watching online or by television or you're here in the room, I want to invite you to respond to God's specific statement to you. 00:46:09.199 --> 00:46:11.519 Whatever He is telling you this morning. 00:46:11.760 --> 00:46:20.480 If you've never been saved, He is inviting you to give your life to Him, to trust Jesus as your personal Savior. 00:46:21.679 --> 00:46:26.159 You're not becoming a Baptist when you give your life to Christ or anything else. 00:46:26.639 --> 00:46:32.800 You are entering into a relationship where God loves you personally and Jesus died for you. 00:46:33.360 --> 00:46:48.800 If you're already saved, but maybe you're struggling or have a question in life or doubts or whatever, and you are reminded that Jesus died for you, and he is involved in your life individually. 00:46:49.039 --> 00:46:51.679 I'm going to pray, and God's people are going to stand and sing. 00:46:51.760 --> 00:46:54.480 And if you need Jesus, we're going to invite you to come. 00:46:54.559 --> 00:46:56.079 We have ministers at our house. 00:46:56.320 --> 00:46:58.960 They're here to pray with you, answer your questions. 00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:03.920 We want you to know that Jesus loves you. 00:47:05.440 --> 00:47:15.519 Lord, we thank you for the incredible truths in your word, and just there's so much we can't even begin to plumb all the depths of it. 00:47:16.639 --> 00:47:24.639 But what we can clearly see in every piece and facet of it is that you love individuals, and Jesus died for people. 00:47:25.840 --> 00:47:35.199 And if there's someone this morning who has heard your voice and want to be saved, I pray, Father, this morning they'll give their life to you. 00:47:35.360 --> 00:47:42.559 Give them the faith and the freedom to trust Jesus as their personal Savior. 00:47:43.840 --> 00:47:46.960 It is in Jesus' name that we pray, and all God's people said. 00:47:47.760 --> 00:47:52.480 We pray this message has been a blessing to you and helped to strengthen your walk with Jesus. 00:47:52.639 --> 00:47:55.440 Please know we want to minister to you and pray for you. 00:47:55.599 --> 00:48:03.039 Send an email to contact us at fsfbc.org and let us pray for you and help you in any way we can. 00:48:03.280 --> 00:48:10.079 Thank you for listening to Chapter and First, the Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.