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Miracles: The Virgin Birth
December 11, 2024 · 32 min
John Mark emphasizes how the virgin birth was essential for Jesus to be without a sinful nature, enabling His ultimate sacrifice for humanity's salvation.
Series "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton December 11, 2024 · 32 min · "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton
John Mark emphasizes how the virgin birth was essential for Jesus to be without a sinful nature, enabling His ultimate sacrifice for humanity's salvation. ...more Show the full description Show less John Mark emphasizes how the virgin birth was essential for Jesus to be without a sinful nature, enabling His ultimate sacrifice for humanity's salvation.
Series "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
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John Mark is the Senior Pastor of the thriving Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen, Texas, where he has served since 1995.
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0:00 Well amen. I want to invite you to reach and grab your copy of God's word and turn with me if you would, back to the gospel of Luke. Luke's gospel chapter 1. We're gonna look today at0:11 another miracle, and we started last week looking at miracles. We often focus only on 1 miracle or 2 miracles at Christmas. There were so many miracles that took place that first Christmas. If you were0:23 here last week, we started this series, Chase did a fantastic job on Sunday. Graham did a great job on Saturday night of looking at that first miracle where the angel Gabriel showed up to Zechariah0:35 and Elizabeth. And Zechariah and Elizabeth, it says were old and very old, very well long in years, and they had been praying for their entire lives as a married0:47 couple for a child. And God had not blessed them 1, they couldn't have children. Also an amazing example when we think about Zechariah and Elizabeth, oftentimes, in our lives,0:59 if we pray for something and pray for something and pray for something and God doesn't give it to us, the natural inclination in our hearts is to withdraw from God.1:11 To God, this isn't what I want, this isn't what I prayed for, so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna back away because God didn't bless me in this way, or God didn't make this happen, or God didn't change1:23 this set of difficult circumstances. But here is the reality, amazing example of someone, even though they had prayed for a child, just kept1:35 on serving God. In those days, women, it was beyond just what it is in our day. We know that we have many folks in our church, many couples in our church perhaps, many online that1:47 that you have been longing for a child, but for some reason, physical or some other, you haven't been able to have a child. And I understand and Jean and I understand the weight1:59 that that brings in a couple's lives when they're longing to have a son or longing to have a child and they're just longing for it. And that's certainly today. But if you go back into the Biblical2:11 times and the Biblical days, it is said that a woman who was barren when she was married was despised by others. Because others looked at that woman and said,2:22 well clearly you don't walk in God's favor and God, doesn't think highly enough of you to bless you. And so, they carried that weight for so long, it would have been easy for Zechariah to2:34 say, I'm no longer gonna serve as a priest. I'm I'm just done with the temple. I'm done with the priesthood. God hasn't blessed me with the child. But it says, because he stayed faithful,2:46 and Elizabeth stayed faithful, that God showed up through the angel Gabriel and said, listen Zechariah, you will have a child, and the clock started again then.2:58 God had had a pause on the clock from the old testament to the new testament, but that conversation with Gabriel the angel to Zechariah and ultimately then Elizabeth his wife who was very3:10 old would be with y'all. That started the clock again. Now that miracle was 1 where God used the natural to do a miracle. Clearly, even though Zechariah and3:22 Elizabeth were well along in years, that God used the act of a man and a woman coming together to produce a miracle of a child long after either 1 of them should have3:34 been of childbearing age. So sometimes, God will do a miracle through the natural. But today's miracle is that miracle of virgin birth.3:46 It's when Gabriel shows up to Mary, we'll read it here in a second, and and Gabriel says, you will be with child, and her response was, woah, not sure how this can be3:58 since I am a virgin. So last week's miracle was God doing a miracle using the natural, and God still does that today. But this miracle, this week, is when God just shows up and does the supernatural.4:11 So let's go to Luke chapter 1, let's begin to read as we continue this series. It says this, so Gabriel shows up to Mary and Mary's immediate response is,4:23 he says you're gonna be with child, she says how will this be, Mary asked the angel, since I am a virgin. Now, Gabriel is the angel that4:35 showed up here. Now, if you look through God's word, there are a number of things that we can find out about angels. We don't know how many angels there are, but there are a lot of angels. Some of the angels fell and4:43 followed Satan. But as you look throughout scripture, there are 2 named angels. A lot of angels are just called part of the heavenly host or angels or whatever, but there are 2. 1 is Gabriel and 1 is4:55 Michael. Those are the 2 angels in scripture, the only 2 that have specific names, alright? And so as you think about this is Gabriel who showed up. And this is not the first time5:07 Gabriel showed up. Gabriel showed up to Mary, showed up to Zechariah, but if you go all the way back into the old testament, a guy named Daniel had an interaction5:19 with an angel named Gabriel. He tells us something about Gabriel. He says he looks like a man, but he's not just any man. Because here's what we know,5:31 every time Gabriel shows up, although he might have the shape or the form somehow, someway of a man, we know there's more than just any man. Why? Because immediately5:43 when people see Gabriel, they become fearful and Gabriel has to immediately say fear not or stop being afraid. So here's what we know about Gabriel, he showed up in the old testament,5:54 now he's showing up in the new testament and we also know that Gabriel spends time with God, scripture tells us that. So God has sent a message through Gabriel to Zechariah and now he's sending 1 to Mary6:06 that even though you're a virgin, you are going to be with child. And so let's continue to read on, go back to Luke chapter 1 verse 34. How would this be, Mary asked the angels, since I'm a virgin?6:18 The angel answered answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come on you and the power of the most high will overshadow you so that the holy 1 to be born to you will be called6:30 the son of God. Let me tell you what, when Satan heard those words, those were the scariest words Satan had ever heard. That the 1 who6:42 belongs to you, the virgin, is now with child and that child will be called the son of God. I don't know what Satan was doing at the time, but immediately he his head came up and he6:54 thought, uh-oh, this is a significant problem. Now, today I want to ask you a question. Everybody here knows that Jesus was born of a virgin.7:06 But do you know why Jesus had to be born of a virgin? See I think a lot of people can tell the Christmas story that an angel showed up to Mary, she was a virgin, said she was going to have a child, she7:18 ended up having Jesus, but the question becomes why couldn't Jesus have just been born into a great family? Just like the ones that we see up here. Could couldn't Jesus7:30 have just been born? Couldn't John the Baptist have done the job? Because clearly, Zechariah and Elizabeth loved the Lord, served the Lord, didn't walk away from the temple, even though they had prayed for7:42 years that they would have a child. They clearly loved God and served God. And Elizabeth loved God and served God even in the midst of the pain and the decades of being without a child. Couldn't7:54 Jesus have just been born to Zechariah and Elizabeth, then he'll be raised in the church and be a really really good guy and love God and do a lot of powerful things and8:06 die on the cross for the sins of the world? Scripture says no. So today I want to answer the question not just was Jesus born of a8:18 virgin, He was. But the question is why did she have to be a virgin? That's ultimately the question. See, Mary and Joseph could have just been8:30 great people, and God gives them a great son named Jesus. But would that have been good enough? Well for me to answer that question, I need to take you on a journey.8:42 It's journey back. Past Pentecost and the explosion of the church, past the empty tomb, past the cross on on that Friday, past even8:54 Jesus' baptism, past Jesus' birth, way through the Old Testament, past 700 years before Christ was born, past Isaiah saying the child will be born in Bethlehem, all the way past slavery in Egypt9:06 and the Red Sea, all of those things, all the way back to the very beginning. And in the very beginning, God begins to show9:18 the story for us. It's like God all the way in the very beginning set up life and the world in eternity like on a chessboard. Said here's the game we are going to play, I'm gonna provide a people,9:30 I'm gonna create a earth, I'm gonna create people who have the ability to reject me or accept me. I'm not gonna create a bunch of robots, I'm not gonna create a bunch of pawns and I'm just gonna move around,9:42 but I'm gonna create people who have the opportunity to say yes to me or no to me. And I'm gonna abide by their wishes. And so God sets this board up and so let's go back9:54 and answer the question, why did Jesus have to be born of a virgin? Let's start reading Genesis chapter 1. It says, in the beginning God, everybody say God. In the beginning God10:06 created the heavens and the earth. Let's stop right there if you want to underline that word God. It is the it is the Hebrew word Elohim. What we know about that word Elohim, it means supreme being, 1 true God, but with10:17 the hehim behind it, Elohim, alright not just El, Elohim, that means there's some plural nature of this God that we fully don't understand and if you just stick with verse 1, here's all10:29 you would know. There is 1 true God, but there's some plurality in this God. So in the beginning, God created the heavens and earth. Go to verse 2. Now the earth was formless and empty,10:41 darkness was over the surface of the deep and the spirit, wait, there's another aspect of this plurality of God. That there's 1 God, now we know there's a God, but there's also a10:53 spirit of God, the third person of the trinity. And the spirit of God was hovering over the water, so here we have. We're building this up from the very beginning, is at verse 1, Elohim, there is11:05 some sort of plurality in this God. Verse 2, we understand not only is this God a physical, real God, but there's a spiritual part of this God. We're not at the trinity yet, we're just building up to11:16 it. Now jump down to Genesis chapter 1 verse 26. So this is after God has created man, notice what it says, or they're getting ready to create men. It says then God said,11:28 let us make mankind male and female in our image. So, all the way back from Genesis chapter 1, there is an idea, there is 1 true God, there is some11:40 sort of plurality. We ultimately have to journey through, the rest of the of God's word to find out that the trinity is God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. So he says, let us make man in11:52 our image, in our likeness. The trinity is fully exposed in the new testament. We see Jesus is born, we see God shows up. Go to Matthew chapter 3. Remember the baptism of12:04 Jesus? Jesus is there being baptized, he shows up to John the Baptist, who Gabriel had told, Zechariah and Elizabeth, you're going to have a child in your own life and that's going to start the clock.12:15 So Jesus shows up to John the Baptist, says John, I want you to baptize me. Remember John the Baptist? He said, no no no no. I don't need to baptize you, you need to baptize me. And Jesus12:27 said, no, fulfilling scripture, I want you to baptize me. But remember what happens when Jesus comes up out of the water. Jesus is baptized, he comes up out of the water. It says a voice from heaven, the12:39 father, first person of the trinity, says this is my son in whom I'm well pleased. Jesus, the second person of the trinity, is just the 1 who was born in Bethlehem,12:51 born of a virgin, in full flesh, fully God, fully man. He is the 1 that is baptized, and then it says the spirit of God, the third person of the trinity, descends like a dove. So13:03 here we have moving forward and journeying forward the fulfillment of all that God says. So let's go back and continue reading. Says then God said, let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness,13:15 so that they, that's male and female, may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the13:27 ground. So, that's Genesis 1. We know something about God. God created mankind in His image. Now, fast forward to Genesis chapter 2. You can read it, I won't make you read it13:39 now, but here's what happens. God looks at Adam and says listen, I want you to go in the garden, the beautiful garden that I've created for you. I want you to work it, I want you to tend it, I want you to care for it, I13:51 want you to till it up. And he says man, so here, don't ever think work is a result of sin. Work took place before sin. Sin just made work harder, but14:03 God always created us for work. That's part of the DNA that God wove into each and every 1 of us. There ought to be a longing for work. Now lots of we all do different things. So here's what God said, go in the14:14 garden, tend it, work it, cultivate it, do everything you can. And he says eat of anything that you find in the garden, save 1 tree. And14:26 it says right in the middle of the garden, there was 1 tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And God just looks at Adam and He says listen, you can eat of anything except for14:38 that 1 tree. And he says, listen, the reason why you don't want to eat of that tree is because, you can go look at it, the day, listen to this, this is important,14:50 the day you eat of it, you will die. That day means yeon. So God looked at Adam and he said, the day you eat of it, you15:02 will die. Now, I'm going to read a little bit of it, the story here, but here's what we know. We know from scripture, we'll read here in a second Genesis chapter 3, that Eve ate it and she didn't die.15:15 Adam ate it and he didn't die. So did God lie. Well we know God can't lie, so there must be something deeper, a deeper meaning. See here's the reality.15:27 Remember, God created Adam in his image and his likeness. So there are 2 lives and 2 deaths spoken about all through15:39 scripture. There is physical life and spiritual life. There is physical death and spiritual death. So what happened the moment that15:51 Adam and Eve took the bite, They didn't physically die, they eventually physically died, but they spiritually died. Does that make sense? They died a spiritual death immediately. Well what took place before16:03 the time that they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Remember, it says, tells us in Scripture, that God would come down every every evening, He would walk in the garden with Adam and Eve, that's being16:15 spiritually alive when you're in the presence of God and when you're with God. As soon as they ate the fruit, what happened? They hid from God because they became spiritually dead. So all the16:27 plan of God is to provide an opportunity from the moment of sin to provide an opportunity for salvation, which is physical life again. So here's what we see, they didn't16:38 die immediately physically, but they did die immediately spiritually. Fast forward, let's go back and let's continue to read. It says this, Genesis chapter 3 verse16:50 6, when the woman saw the fruit of the tree, it was good for food and pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom. Remember she had had a conversation with Satan?17:03 Satan did what? Satan twisted God's word. Satan and let me tell you what, child of God, Satan didn't just twist God's word then, he'll do it now. And that's why I always17:14 want us to be a people of God's word. Every series we have has a daily devotion because I want you reading God's word. So when that that that that moment and17:26 season when you're discouraged or disheartened and it's just you alone in bed and your head is on the pillow and Satan begins to lie to you and twist God's word, I want you to be able to say no no no no, that is17:38 not what God's word says about me or my my husband or my wife or my son or my daughter or my children. That is not what God's word says. Because let me tell you what, Satan twisted God's word at the beginning, he'll do17:49 it all the way until the end. Alright? So here it is, when the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for Eden, pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some of it and ate it and18:01 she also gave some to her husband. Now, I know we men, we love to say, well she did it first, right? And we would love to also say, well man, the dude was probably off in his hunting blind18:13 looking for something to kill. He probably wasn't even there. Alright? Ladies, let me give you a little ammunition against your husband next time he starts saying, well you know, y'all ate the fruit. Let me show you18:23 something. It says, her husband, and she gave some to her husband who was with her. Now it doesn't say he was paying attention.18:35 But he was there, alright. So it doesn't say that he was tapped in and she looks at himself, just talking to Satan, he goes, what, what? And she just looked over and he saw it, so notice it wasn't like he18:47 was gone, alright it wasn't hunting season. She she wasn't a hunting widow, right? She he was right there with her and he ate it as well. So listen, here's what happened, they both took it and ate it. It. They didn't18:58 immediately physically die, they spiritually died, which separated them. So listen, the consequences of sin was not that the day they would die, they would physically die, but19:10 the consequence of sin was that the day that they ate, they would spiritually die. Immediately it took place. And so here's what we understand, there is a physical death and a19:22 spiritual death. Eventually Adam and Eve would all die, just like we all eventually died. That is a curse of our sin, but it's more important that we deal with the spiritual and not the physical because the spiritual is19:33 what lasts eternally. So let's go to the next 1. Look at Genesis chapter 3 verse 14. So the Lord said to the serpent, alright, we're drawing a light, why the19:45 virgin birth? Genesis chapter 3 verse 14, so the Lord said to the serpent, Satan, I will put enmity between you and the woman.19:59 Full stop. Why just her? Why between the serpent and the woman? Now listen, and between20:11 your offspring, sin and death and difficulty, and hers, all the way back to the beginning, as Satan moves a piece, God moves a piece. As Satan moves a piece,20:23 God moves a piece. And between your offspring and hers, now listen to this, here's a pronoun shift. He, who's that? Her offspring.20:35 So the enmity is between Satan's offspring and her offspring. Not their offspring, but her offspring. And notice, and he So here's what we know,20:47 that the child who would do do deal death ultimately to Satan will be the son of her, not them. And it will be a he and not20:59 a her. You're saying Pastor, we know all that from the beginning, from right here. We're in Genesis chapter 3 and God is already telling, here's how this game's gonna play out. Alright, here's how this game's gonna play.21:11 So continue to read, And between your offspring and hers and he, ultimately we know is Jesus, will crush your head and you will strike his heel.21:24 Listen, when Jesus died on the cross, Satan struck his heel. But when Jesus rose from the grave, he crushed Satan's head. And so all the time you're seeing God move21:36 pieces together, you say okay pastor, alright I get this, I get a little bit of this, that the moment that Adam and Eve ate, they didn't die physically. They would eventually die physically, but they did die spiritually21:47 and God ultimately says right there in Genesis 3 that the in between, enmity is between Satan's offspring and Eve's offspring, not Adam's offspring. Alright, is there anything else that points to21:59 it? Well here's what we see. Fast forward says when Adam had lived another 130 years,22:17 says when Adam had lived another hundred and 30 years, he had a son in his own likeness and in his own22:29 image. Did you catch it? Did you catch it? In Genesis 1, God created Adam and Eve and22:41 mankind in God's own image and in God's own likeness. Do you remember that? Notice the progression. Genesis chapter 3, sin enters into22:53 the world, they become spiritually dead. Genesis chapter 5, Adam has a child, not in God's image, but in his23:04 own image and in his own likeness. Does that make sense? So here, now what happens? From Genesis chapter 5 and beyond, humanity is born23:17 in the likeness of Adam. That's why every child is born with what is referred to as a sin nature. Fallen man produces fallen man.23:29 Sinful man produces sinful man. Alright, you say, well is this consistent all the way through God's word? I'm glad you asked that question. Let's go ahead and jump past the virgin birth, past the cross,23:41 past Pentecost to Romans chapter 5. So Paul, who was a teacher of the law, understood the law in Romans chapter 5 verse 12. Notice what Paul says in Romans chapter 5 verse23:52 12, looking back. He says, therefore just as sin entered in the world through 1 man, Genesis 3, the eating of the apple.24:05 And death came through sin, physical, spiritual, spiritual is what he's talking, and this way death came to all people, fallen man produces fallen24:17 man, because all have sinned. This is why Jesus was born of a virgin. Had he been born as a result24:29 of Mary and Joseph, Jesus would have had a sin nature. But in order to overcome that sin nature, God had to allow a child to be born of a virgin.24:41 Now this is the beauty of God's work, that you have from Genesis to Revelation, you have 66 books written over 15 or 1600 years by 40 some odd different authors in 324:53 different languages on multiple continents with 1 dramatic theme that goes from Genesis 1 1 to the last verse in Revelation. That God created a world where people could25:05 be free to worship him or reject him. But even in their rejection, God was going to offer a plan of salvation through a man that was not born with a sin nature, was born with a God nature.25:18 That He was both fully God and fully man. So when He lived a perfect life and He died on the cross, that that death paid not just for His sins, had there been any and there25:29 weren't, but for our sins. Now had He just been man, even if He was perfect, that 1 man's death could pay for 1 man's sin. But since25:41 that death was not just 1 man, it was 1 man united with an infinite God, his death on the cross paid the price for sins, not just for 1, but for all. Does that make sense?25:53 Give God a hand for that, right? Why the virgin birth? So Jesus would not have a sin nature, that we can marry the divine nature to it so death on the cross can be multiplied26:06 by trillions upon trillions upon trillions of trillions and trillions of sin. And I didn't count those, I just made that number up. But here's the deal, why the virgin birth? So think about it.26:18 That the Bible's theme from beginning to end is all about God pursuing you and loving you. Think about your kids. I had 4 of them.26:30 You know what I noticed? You say are kids really born with a sin nature? That's kind of harsh. Anybody in here have to teach your kids to be selfish? You know, I mean I had 4 of26:42 them and I'd walk in, next thing I know they're, they've got all the toys they need. Which 1 do they want? They want the 1 their siblings playing with, right? And you have to walk in, you have to teach them to be26:53 unselfish. I walk in there, stop acting like your mom, Right? And that's just, that's a garden thing issue and she's not in this service. I appreciate y'all not sharing that with27:05 her. She was in the 9 30 service and funny, I forgot to say that in that service. But anybody in here, what do you have to teach your kids? You have to teach your kids to be unselfish. Why? Because their sinful nature27:17 is selfish. You have to teach your kids love because, why? Their sinful nature is unloving. You have to teach your kids to forgive because their sinful nature is to be unforgiving. Does that make sense? That's why Jesus27:27 was born of a virgin so he would not have that sin nature, but he had the divine nature. So his death on the cross, not his birth in Bethlehem, which is amazing, it was the death on the cross that provides forgiveness27:39 for all. That's an incredible thought. So here you have God and Satan playing this game all along, alright? And here's what we understand, Isaiah the prophet, 700 years before27:51 Christ shows up, let's read it together, Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14. Says, therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Here's your sign.28:04 You ready? The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and they will call him Immanuel, which means God28:16 with us. So here it is. God set up the game in Genesis chapter 1. Genesis chapter 3, Satan moved into his best position, thought he had God.28:27 Alright? And as we think, all the movement that took place through the children of Israel and all the Old Testament prophets, all of a sudden in Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14, 700 years before28:39 Christ was born, God moved on the prophet Isaiah. And he says, this is going to be your sign. A virgin's going to be with child. God28:51 leans back and looks at Satan and says, check. For 700 years, Satan stares at the board29:04 trying to figure out how to get out. He says, well if I move this here, if I do this, if I do that, we go back over and over again. And then all of a29:16 sudden, 700 years later, God says, Gabriel, I need you to go tell somebody something for me. I want you to go to that virgin,29:29 a virgin named Mary. You tell her I love her. You tell her she's found my favor, and you tell her she is with29:41 child. And that child is not going to be just any child. He's going to be the son of29:53 God, and you will call his name Jesus. And Gabriel, when you leave30:04 her to fly back to me, swing by Satan's house and just whisper checkmate. I mean that, give God30:16 a, that is what Christmas is all about. So child of God, when you then come to Matthew, listen to the last verse here. All this took place to fulfill what30:28 the Lord had said through the prophet. The Bible, 66 books, 40 authors, 3 languages, multiple30:40 continents, 1 theme. God doesn't want to let you go. God doesn't want to let you die. The death I'm talking about is not your physical30:52 death, it's your spiritual death. Your physical death just takes you out of this body. The spiritual death removes you from God for all eternity. So the offer of God is31:04 good. For whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. What about you?31:16 Let's pray. God, thank you so much for your goodness and your grace. God, thank you for the opportunity that we have now to look and go all the way back to the beginning of31:27 beginnings and realize this is your plan, it is your game, it is your life. That you provided life in such a way that that you weren't going to tell us everything to do, you were going to allow us31:39 to make choices good and bad, but ultimately you not only provided an opportunity to salvation, you provided invitation for salvation for each of us. And all we have31:51 to do is simply trust you and believe and freely receive your son, and we become children of God. God, my prayer is there'd32:03 be those in this service right now and perhaps those that are watching online who would do that very same thing. That they would move in this moment by faith from spiritual death to32:15 spiritual life. In Jesus' name we pray, amen and amen.
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