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Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Let's take our seats and grab our hymnals. We're going to start our second service. Take our hymnals and open it to song number 185. Song number 185. We'll sing, My Savior's Love. Song number 185. I stand, all means ready, on the first. I stand, all means, in the process of Jesus, the Nazarene. And wonder how we can love you a sinner condemned on me. How marvelous, how wonderful and my song shall never be. How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me. Sing it out a second. For me it was in the Lord that we prayed that my will but die. We have no tears for his opening God's bed, God's blood for mine. How marvelous, how wonderful and my song shall never be. How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me. He devises them with sorrow. He made them his merry own. He bore them her that to Calvary and suffered and died alone. How marvelous, how wonderful and my song shall never be. How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me. When with a ransom in glory his face and that shall see will be my joy to the ages to sing of his love for me. How marvelous, how wonderful and my song shall never be. How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me. Let's pray. Let's pray. All right, good morning everybody. Welcome to Verity Baptist Church. Let's go through a couple announcements real quickly. First let us count up any salvations that I'm not aware of. So in the back section were there any salvations to report? Anybody? All right, how about in this section any salvations? Anyone? All right, last section. Any salvations to report? Three, five, anybody else? All right, well we do have soul winning this afternoon around 1.45 and the first sermon did run long. The second sermon will be a bit shorter to compensate for that. On upcoming activities in the middle of our bulletin, today is our monthly prayer meeting which will be after soul winning and then we have men's choir practice starting next Sunday and the Sunday after that for the Father's Day performance in three weeks. We're going to be having a bowling event and we do have a soul winning marathon coming up in 15 days on June 12th on Independence Day. I believe that's it for announcements. We'll have Brother Chris lead us in another song. Amen for our next song, song number 179. Song number 179. We'll sing such love that God should love a sinner such as I. Ready on the verse. Ready, sing. That God should love a sinner such as I should yearn to change my sorrow and to please God rest till he ever plans to bring me not. How wonderful is love I pay such love, such love, such wonderful, such love, such wonderful that God should love a sinner such as I. How wonderful is love I pay that God should join so freely in this year. Oh, don't get mad, it's that of Calvary. If ever you loved God quite over dear, then love him by the ransom fee. Such love, such wonderful, such love, such wonderful that God should love a sinner such as I. How wonderful is love I is unearned that for all will go at the such as I. God, Father, plan us, name your plan and die. Redemption for all toward the same light. How long and lo and grace be mine. Such love, such wonderful, such love, such wonderful that God should love a sinner such as I. How wonderful is love I pay and now he takes me to his heart to suck. He asks me not to feel a service place. The car on the dreamwalk is called the wide open artist's arms are free. Such love, such wonderful, such love, such wonderful that God should love a sinner such as I. How wonderful is love I is. Great singing. For now, let's take our offering. Thank you. Amen. For the scripture reading, please open your Bibles to the book of Matthew. Matthew chapter 1. Matthew chapter 1. And we will be reading from verse 18 down to verse 25. Matthew chapter 1. Matthew chapter 1. And we will be reading from verse 18 down to verse 25. Matthew chapter 1. Matthew chapter 1. Matthew chapter 1. verses 18 to verse 25. Please say amen if you're there. Amen. Matthew chapter 1 verse 18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was in this wise. When his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband who was a really just man and not willing to make her a public example was minded to put her away privately. But while he thought on these things behold the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream saying Joseph thou son of David fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost and she shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done and it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying the only virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel which being interpreted is God with us. Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him and took unto him his wife and knew her not till she had brought forth her first born son and they called his name Jesus. Bless the reading of God's word let us pray. Thank you Lord for the state that you've given to us I pray that you would please bless the Lord for this day give us good weather for our soul winning our fellowship later on and I pray that you would please bless the preaching and the preaching of your Lord Lord this day. We love you in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Alright we're here in Matthew chapter 1 and the name of the sermon is the birth of Christ. So this is our Christmas sermon for the year. I'm talking about the virgin birth of Jesus. Obviously we're going verse by verse through the book of Matthew and just looking at these last eight verses and so let us just start here verse number 18 The Bible says, Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise. When it says on this wise it's like a makalumong way to say it was in this manner or in this way is what it's saying. When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they came together she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Now there's a lot of confusion about this verse and this word here where it says espoused to Joseph. If you look at that word espoused and you take off the first letter and you take off the last letter you've got the word spouse. It's like an older way to say that they're married espoused to Joseph. They're not engaged they are married. And I understand the confusion because you've got Mary and Joseph and they're married but they've not physically been together and that's confusing to us in our modern day or at least in this culture. You know here in the Philippines or in the United States in most cultures generally you get married and you come together pretty much the same time, same day or same week like but that's not what you're seeing here in Matthew 1 where basically they get married but they're not actually together yet and there's a time period that goes by. Now around the world marriage customs are very different. So in different cultures they do things differently. I'm sure there are cultures today that you would legally get married but not actually be together as husband and wife immediately. It's just not what we have here in the Philippines so it's kind of hard to understand this but that's what's taking place. They're married but they've not yet come together okay. Now what I would presume that the reason why is probably that they get married and they decide they want to be together but he's not yet necessarily ready to financially prepare for his own home so they're kind of saving up money or whatever. Those would be kind of my guesses so they're kind of waiting six months or something like that but you have to realize this is the days before cell phones, before Facebook. I mean a long distance relationship would have been a lot harder back then than now because you're not even going to see each other. You're not going to have communication. Now I'll give you an example. When my parents got married my mom and my dad worked at the same office and my dad was being transferred and then you know he started communicating with my mom and so they started talking but my dad had just moved so they started a kind of a long distance relationship and back then if you were to call someone on the phone it's like you called for five minutes a thousand pesos. It's expensive right. You couldn't just talk to people long distance and so they weren't able to visit each other all the time. They didn't have a lot of money and so when he would travel it was becoming very expensive so after a couple months my dad just kind of had to make a decision. Either we get married or we end this because I can't really afford to keep doing this. I mean that's the way my dad Mr. Romantic tells the story where it's like either you know what we were going to get married or we had to break up because there was no alternative financially and so they got engaged and you know what they decided to get married but they were not yet together. Of course in our modern day you think of engagement but that's one reason to get engaged where you're not around each other but you want to be committed. Although when they first got married they were not around each other at the very beginning the entire time and that often takes places even in our culture today where you might get married but you're not yet ready to be like together all the time. Maybe someone's working in another place and then after a couple years you kind of get it worked out but for whatever reason they decide they want to be married. They legally get married. They're espoused together but they have not yet come together yet as husband and wife. They're not engaged. They are married but they have not yet been together physically. Verse number 19 Then Joseph her husband being a just man and not willing to make her a public example was minded to put her away privately. And so Joseph is a just man. He's a good man and he has decided to put her away which is a way to say divorce but he's doing it privately or privately quietly. He doesn't want to make her a public example. He doesn't want to embarrass her. He just wants to kind of do it quietly and move on with his life and this is what he's thinking. It's in his mind but he's considering these things. Okay now turn to Matthew 19 Matthew 19 Now here's the thing about this Joseph and Mary they get married but they're not yet actually together. And then all of a sudden she ends up being pregnant. Now here's the thing about this in this chapter we don't see what Mary's thoughts are in the situation. We get those thoughts in the book of Luke which is something we're not going to look at because it's not the focus in the book of Matthew. But here's the thing about this how does Joseph find out that Mary is with child? Not from Mary. We don't really know but he finds out from somebody and he's thinking about getting divorced because all of a sudden these rumors are going around and it turns out well it must be true because there's multiple witnesses where it's like wait a minute I'm married to this woman. I haven't been with her and yet she's with child. It's like that's not what I signed on for. It's always getting married assuming this is a godly person that she's pure and we want to be together and it turns out that she's with child from some other guy. It's kind of like that's not what I signed up for. And you have to realize that in this time period I'm sure a lot of people especially in the culture where it was not accepted to have children out of wedlock there's a lot of people that probably criticize Mary, a lot of rumors a lot of gossip and of course there's going to be an embarrassment or a shame for Joseph because like wait a minute it's like this is not my child. And of course it would be hard on Mary also because she did nothing wrong and yet she's going to be accused by people as if she did do something wrong. Now here's the thing about this in 187 AD there's a Greek philosopher by the name of Celsus and this is what he said in his book, The True Word. So this Greek philosopher writes a book called The True Word and it's like wait a minute The True Word's already been written. Right? But he wrote a book called The True Word where I guess he's going to be an expert on all religious matters and he said he expressed what appears to have been the consensus Jewish opinion about Jesus. That his father was a Roman soldier who was called Pantera. Pantera means panther and was a fairly common name among Roman soldiers. The rumors repeated in the Talmud and in medieval Jewish writings where Jesus referred to as Yeshua ben Pantera, the son of Pantera. Now the Talmud is the holy book of Jews. The Torah is not. The Old Testament is not. The Torah is Genesis through Deuteronomy. But that's their holy book nor do they even believe Genesis through Deuteronomy. Their holy book is the Talmud or I should say unholy book. And in their book the Talmud, what they say about Jesus is that he is the bastard child of Pantera and Mary. That basically Mary cheated on him. She hoarded around and then that's how he was birthed. That's what they teach. Now in America, there was a famous rock band from I think the 70s named Pantera. It's like it's interesting that you decide to name yourself after the supposed father of Jesus Christ from the Talmud because obviously rock music is blaspheming God. They hate the God of the Bible. They hate everything that the Bible stands for. But this was something that was commonly said and look I'm sure it wasn't just the Jews. Other people had said, hey did you hear what Mary did? And this is the sort of accusation that would be brought out even though Mary did nothing wrong and in fact she is going to give birth to Jesus because she's very righteous. Because she's a great woman and she's the one who ends up giving birth to Jesus but the accusations would have been wait a minute she cheated on Joseph. And this is what Joseph is hearing. He's assuming that his wife has cheated on him. What other thing could you assume in this situation? Obviously he's going to assume, well she must have been with some other guy because the first thing that comes to your mind is I think she's with Child of the Holy Ghost. I don't think she did anything wrong. Obviously he's going to assume she did something wrong. Now Matthew 19, notice what it says in verse 3, the Pharisees also came on to him, tempting him and saying unto him, is it lawful, is it allowed for a man to put away his wife for every cause? This is one of the dumbest questions in the entire Bible. For every cause? For any reason you want? It's like, hey, I said I wanted scrambled eggs, you gave me sunny side up, I want a divorce. That's what they're saying in Matthew. For every cause. You get mad, you have one little smile, can you get a divorce for any reason that you want? What a stupid question that is. And of course they're not trying to give a logical question, they're trying to make Jesus look bad or try to get the people against him by saying whatever. But that's literally what they're saying. Can you just divorce your wife for whatever reason that you want? And he answered and said unto them, have ye not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female and said for this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one flesh. And what Jesus said is do you not understand the Scriptures? Did you not read in the Bible that you know what, when you get married you become one, you're meant to stay together. Now here's the thing about this. We're going to see here in a second the exception for legally being allowed to get a divorce in the Word of God. But if someone were to point blank ask me about divorce, I'd be like God is against divorce. And just saying those four words, God is against divorce, I mean that sums up what I believe. It sums up what the Bible teaches. And so Jesus focuses on the main thing. It's like for every cause it's like no, God said I want you to stay married. Right? Go to Genesis chapter 2. Genesis 2. Let's see where this is first mentioned in the Bible. Genesis chapter 2. And the Bible says in Genesis 2 verse 18. Genesis 2 verse 18. And the Lord God said it is not good that the man should be alone. I will make in help meet for him. Now the Bible says here, this is often misquoted. Often you hear this quoted it is not good that man should be alone. It's not actually what the Bible says. It is not good that the man should be alone. The man, the definite article is specifically telling you about Adam. Now the reason why this is significant is he's saying it's not good that the man I created, Adam, should be alone. So when God's making in help meet for him, what I believe and teach is there's one person designed for you to get married to. He's saying I'm making a person specifically for Adam. Not just in general, I'm making woman for man. Although that's true, it's not good that the man, Adam, should be alone. I'm going to make in help meet specifically for Adam is what he's teaching here. But then it says this in verse 18. Meet for him. Now look, I'm not really preaching against people's over obsession with animals. Let me explain something to you. God didn't design you to just spend your life, people that often don't want to get married but they're going to buy a pet. They buy a dog, and look, I'm not against you having a pet so if you have a pet, I'm not preaching against you. I'm not saying it's wrong. I had a dog growing up It's like we have three young kids so for me it's like for safety reasons, we don't have an animal you know. But it's not, I'm not against you having a pet. But here's what I'm saying. It's like there's people that say, I don't want to get married. I don't want to get tied down. I don't want to get married. And then they buy a pet. You know, there's something inside of you that has a desire to get married. You're not going to replace that by buying a pet and putting a diaper on it and bringing it everywhere and feeding it. And it's just like the help meet this design for you is someone of the opposite gender that is a human being. Okay? As simple as I can make it. Not someone of the same gender, not someone of the animal world, but a human being of the opposite gender. That is the help meet design for you. Okay? Now I'm not against you having a pet but here's the reality about having a pet. When Nathan told David about the story, this person has one little u-lamp. That's all he has. Because he has nothing else, he gets a pet. And that's why people get pets. Okay? What I would say is you know what, actually maybe you have a desire to get married. Maybe you want to invest your time into that instead of investing it into an animal. Okay? You're going to be mad at me all you want. It's whatever. I'm not against having pets. I'm just explaining the word of God that the help meet was not every beast of the field or the bird that you put in a cage. Right? Or whatever. But the help meet was actually the woman made for the man. Okay? Not an animal. Verse 21. When God institutes marriage and He describes it at the very beginning before He comes up with other added things to this, He says you get married, you leave father and mother, and you cleave onto your wife. You are now a new family. So for example, if you're married in this room however old you are, it's like you and your family with your husband or wife, you make the decision. Obviously the husband's ahead of that home. But what I'm saying is it's not your in-laws or your parents that make those decisions. Now that you're married, it's like you make your own decisions. Right? Now I'm not saying, I mean obviously I think you ought to respect your parents and obviously they've lived a lot longer than you so they could have a lot of wisdom. But what I'm saying is some people make their decisions simply because that's what they want their mom or their dad or their in-laws want them to do. That's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible says you leave father and mother and cleave onto your wife and you are now one flesh. And even if your parents are very godly people it does not mean they're going to see things the same way in every area of life. They might have a different opinion. Well here's the thing. As parents we pour our energy into our kids to raise them but once they become adults and get married it's like they are now their own family. And they make their decisions. You leave father and mother and cleave onto your wife and you are one flesh according to the Word of God. Go back to Matthew 19. Matthew 19. Matthew 19. Now of course one flesh, you know, besides not getting a divorce it's like, wait a minute, against polygamy also. Say brother Stuckey but a lot of people got married multiple people in the Bible. It doesn't mean it's right. A lot of people got drunk in the Bible. It doesn't make it right. A lot of people did a lot of things in the Bible. It doesn't make it right. I mean you can't be, well you know like the Solomon plan. I'm one flesh with this woman and one flesh with this woman and one flesh. It doesn't make any sense. You leave father and mother and cleave onto your wife it's like you become one flesh. You're not getting married to somebody else then. It's one person that God has designed for you. Matthew 19 verse 6. Wherefore there are no more twain but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. And what Jesus says is, what God hath joined together, let it not be broken apart. Now when I perform weddings I will say that you make this decision before God and your family and friends but what we're saying is that God is joining you together. That's what we believe. You get married to someone as a saved person you find somebody else who loves God and what you believe is God is joining you together. Here's the thing we're going to see the grounds for divorce here in Matthew 19 and what's being mentioned by Joseph, what he's thinking about. But here's the thing, if there's a legality to divorce you know what that also means? There's a legality to marriage as well. It's not just, well we made a decision before God that we're married. No, no, no, you got to make it legal. Because if there's legality to divorce there has to be legality to marriage. Now I know in the US there's a lot of people that are like really anti-government and I get it. I get being against the government. But it's like you can go to extremes where it's like, well you know what I'm so anti-government I'm not going to get a driver's license. I'm not going to get a social security card. The government can't tell me what to do. Well you're going to spend your life in prison at some point or another if that's the mentality you take. But here's the thing about this and people say, I'm not going to get a marriage license because of the fact the government can't tell me who to marry. But there's legality to divorce so there's legality to marriage. And yes, you're saying you're doing this before God and God is joining you together but there's a legal process to it. Now of course in the Bible people get married in different ways because there's different cultures. And cultures do things differently. But what I'm saying is there's legality to it. It's not just well we made this decision that in the eyes of God we're married. But God says to put it on paper. Make it legal or actually you're not married in the eyes of God. You have to make it legal. That's what the Bible says. And so you get married before God. He joins you together and it's like let not man put asunder. Don't let this be broken apart. Verse 7, they say unto him, why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement and to put her away? Now this is a very misleading statement. Did Moses command to give a writing of divorcement? No. What Jesus says in the next verse is He suffered you or allowed you. He didn't command you saying it's so important for having grounds for divorce. He's saying you know what? He allowed you. He suffered. God allowed this to take place. It wasn't a command. It's not like well you know what you believe in sampum ultus, but you know what I believe in 11. After thou shalt not covet, thou shalt be able to get a divorce. Is that a commandment? No, I mean that's ridiculous. Right? But that's what they're trying to basically say in Matthew 19. Moses commanded to give a writing of divorce. And what Jesus says is this, He sayeth unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts commanded you, suffered you. And what does suffer mean? It means to allow. He allowed you. He didn't command it though. He allowed it because of the hardness of your hearts. So what the Bible is even saying here is even in the worst situation you still should be willing to forgive and even Joseph. Right? Because he's allowing the certain grounds and Joseph is doing nothing wrong, but he said it's because of the hardness of our hearts. Right? And it said suffered you to put away your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. So what Jesus is saying is yes, there is a grounds for divorce and it is allowed. It's not a sin. It's not a wrong. But from the beginning it was not so. Because what did it say in Genesis 2? It's like you leave father and mother and you cleave on your wife. And you become one flesh. That is God's plan. Verse 9, And I say unto you, whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery. And whosoever marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery. Now there's two different words mentioned here in this verse. You've got the word fornication and you've got the word adultery. These are different words. There's similarity to them, but they're not the same words. Fornication is what you do before you're married. Adultery is if you're already married and then you cheat on your spouse or you cheat with someone who is married. That would be adultery. Okay? When the Bible says thou shalt not commit adultery, that's not about what you do before you're married. That's what you do after you are married. Thou shalt not commit adultery. And what it's saying is you're allowed to put away your wife if it be for fornication. What does that mean? It means that if you marry somebody and you think they're pure, you think they've done nothing with anybody else, and before you come together, it turns out that they have, then you're able to get a divorce. You're able to put them away. Now look, this is hard to understand because it's an extremely rare situation. But that is the situation that Joseph and Mary are in. It doesn't really make sense in our culture because, quite honestly, I'm not saying you make your own decisions in life, but if people do tests for various STDs before they're married or whatever, it's like you would do that before you legally get married generally. You wouldn't legally get married. Now let's do the test to find out. Wait a minute, I thought you were pure. But that would be the sort of situation though. You legally get married, you do the test, and it turns out, wait a minute, you must not be pure. But that would be an extremely rare situation in our culture here. So it's hard for us to understand because we can't really think of a situation where you legally get married and yet you're not physically together for a long time after that. But that's the situation with Mary and Joseph because they're a spouse. They are married, husband and wife, spouses. But if that is the case, that you get married, and you're not physically together, and then all of a sudden you find out, wait a minute, my wife is pregnant, and I have not been with her, which is the situation of Joseph, she must have had fornication with some other guy. I married her thinking that she was pure and that's not the case. And it's like, wait a minute, I've been duped. I've been lied to. It's a very rare situation that would come up, but it is a situation of Joseph. Now here's the thing. If you get divorced and it is not for the correct reason, so if it is for fornication, there's legal grounds to divorce, and then it's like you're free to be married to who you want. Right? But if you get divorced and not for the right reason, and then you marry another and you're physically with them, the Bible says you commit adultery. And whosoever marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery. Because God expects you to stay married to the person that you get married to. If you get a divorce, you are legally bound while those two people are alive to stay together. And if you get married to somebody else, then the Bible says that is committing adultery. Unless the divorce was for fornication, which is a very rare situation that I've never heard of anybody in real life outside of Joseph and Mary ever being in. It's a very rare situation that God gives a means and a grounds for divorce. Okay? Now, here's what I want to say about this. And it says in verse 10, His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry. If I can't get divorced when my wife makes me sunny-side up eggs, it's not even worth getting married. Now, that's the sort of statement from someone who just wants to fornicate with a bunch of people and doesn't want to make it legal. That's why it's like I shy away and say, Well, you know, I don't want to do a marriage license. You know, we're married before God. It's like, well, why would you say that? Because why wouldn't you want to just be committed if you are fully committed? Just make it legal. Right? Make it real and then there's no turning back. It's a forever decision you make. Go back to Matthew 1. Matthew 1. Matthew 1. Now, let me say this, though. I don't justify divorce. I mean, if someone is in that rare situation like Joseph, he doesn't do anything wrong in Matthew 1, even if he had divorced Mary. Nothing wrong with that. I've never heard of anybody being in that situation before. But let's say, you know, outside of that rare situation, somebody gets divorced. I would never justify divorce. But here's what I will say. If somebody is married to someone and they divorce and they get remarried, the Bible's clear that's adultery. But it is not perpetual adultery. You ever say what I'm saying? It's not like every day it's not like, let's say, you know, somebody, they get remarried and then all of a sudden you know, they realize, wait a minute, this is adultery and then they're never together with their new wife ever again. Well, that wouldn't be right because you've already made that decision. And to that point it's not perpetual adultery where every day you're under the wrath of God. It's like the decision you make is like, okay, you committed adultery and now you're married to that person and you stay committed to that person. Now, you can take this however you want it and you can leave them watered down or whatever. I would never justify divorce. But what I will say is it would be much better to legally get divorced and remarried than just living, open, perpetual adultery by not being remarried. Do you understand the difference? I'm not justifying divorce, but I am realistic. If somebody gets married at a young age and they end up getting divorced, there's a good chance they end up getting remarried. It would be better to get remarried if you're not going to be able to contain yourself and stay without, than to just live with somebody else and to say, well, in the eyes of God we're married. It's like, no, actually you're not. It's actually living and because there's no legal divorce, it's like you're living in adultery every single day. Whereas if you got remarried, you're not being perpetually committed to adultery. Now, I'm not justifying you. I'm just being realistic and saying that would be better if you cannot contain yourself. Now, here's the reality. In our country, that's a little bit difficult. Because it's the one country where divorce is illegal. Quite honestly, God does give grounds for divorce. In my opinion, it would be better if divorce was legal than illegal. Because there's a lot of things in the Bible that are sin and wrong, but it doesn't mean that it's wrong to drink alcohol. It's not illegal to drink alcohol in the Bible. It's wrong to do drugs. It's not illegal though. It's wrong to get a divorce, and yet God does give a situation for divorce. Now, that should be the only grounds for divorce and obviously people get divorced for different reasons. But what I'm saying is if someone's in that situation, I always tell them, well, biblically, you should stay single. That's what God says. But if you're not going to be able to do that, it is better to get divorced and remarried than just be with somebody else without being married to that person. There is a difference. One is perpetual adultery. One of them is not. Both are wrong, but one is much worse. Matthew chapter 1, verse 20. But while he thought on these things, and so here we see wisdom from Joseph, because Joseph is thinking about getting a divorce, but it says he thought on these things. Now, here's the thing. When you're making big decisions in life, you've got to think about it. It shouldn't be something that you rush into. If you're going to make a big decision, it's not like you're at the drive-thru at McDonald's. It's like, man, I've got to spend 20 minutes and pray about this. Just order whatever. You're at the drive-thru at Burger King or whatever. It's like, you know what? Just small things. Just make your decision and go with it. But when you're making big decisions in life, it makes sense to think about these things. And Joseph is thinking about getting a divorce. That's a big decision. So what does Joseph do? He thinks about it. He's like, well, let me think about this to determine what I'm going to do and how I'm going to do it. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee marry thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. Now, when the angel says, fear not to take unto thee marry thy wife, from the warning it sounds like Joseph still wants to marry Mary was very confused. I thought this was a godly woman. It's the person that God has for me. We already made it legal. Right? And then it's like, man, and he still wants to be married to her, but it's just like, if she did this, then I can't trust her, because that's a big lie. And the angel says, fear not. Don't worry, because actually what is inside of her is from the Holy Ghost. She actually didn't do anything wrong. Okay? Verse 21. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Verse 22. Now, all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. Now, I want you to pay attention to the wording here in Matthew 1 23. Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son. Now, turn to Isaiah chapter 7. Isaiah 7. Isaiah chapter 7. And the verse here in Matthew 1 23 is actually a quote from Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14. And notice what it says in Isaiah 7 verse 14. Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Now, the Bible says here, a virgin shall conceive. That's not what it said in Matthew 1. It said a virgin shall be with child. So being with child is synonymous with conceiving, and what does that teach? Life begins at conception, not at implantation a couple weeks later, but because Matthew 1, and often the Bible does this when it quotes from the Old Testament, it slightly changes the wording to teach you something. So conceiving and being with child, life begins at the moment of conception, not a couple weeks later. This is why I preached before against the day after pills. Because if life begins at conception, and you take the day after pill, and the child was conceived the day before, then you might have killed an innocent child. Because yes, birth control pills can stop ovulation, but sometimes they don't. And then if you use a day after pill right afterwards, it's like, well, wait a minute, you could have ended a human life. Because we don't believe life begins at implantation or a couple months after, whatever. Life begins at conception, according to Matthew 1.23, cross-referenced with Isaiah 7.14. Now, in the King James, it says, behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son. And that is a miraculous sign. God says, I'm going to give you a sign. A virgin's going to have a child. That's a pretty big sign. That's a pretty big miracle. Right? You can't really ask for something much bigger than that. A virgin gives birth, because that's not scientifically possible. That's not genetically or biologically or medically or however you want to say it. That is not possible. Because it's a sign or a miracle from God. But wait a minute, this is what it says in the NRSV and some other modern versions. Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son and shall call him Emmanuel. So, in the NRSV, here's the sign, here's the miracle, a young woman's going to have a child. Is it a miracle if a 16-year-old has a child? Or is that actually possible? It's very possible. Last week we saw a 35-year-old grandfather, according to the word of God. It is possible for a teenager to have a child. And in fact, the implication here would be, because it doesn't mention anything about them being married, I mean, young women get pregnant out of Red Rock all the time. It's not even not a sign. It's not even a good thing. It's I'm going to give you a sign. A young woman's going to have a child. That happens all the time. All the time. My sister got married at 17. They had their child born at the age of 18. Is that a sign from God? No, it's called it's scientifically possible to have a child as a teenager. The sign, the miracle is a virgin shall be with child. There's nothing miraculous about a young woman having a child. Right? You know, I don't know the earliest age a woman can have a child. Obviously it varies depending on the women, but I'm sure there's women that have been you know, maybe even below a teenager. I don't know. 13, 14, I'm sure it's happened many times. People give it. It's not a miraculous sign. A miraculous sign is if a virgin has a child. Go back to Matthew 1. Matthew chapter 1. And you know what, when it comes to what we believe as Christians and the foundational beliefs, what are the two events that you would say are the foundational things to being a Christian? The virgin birth and the resurrection. Isn't that what you would say? What are our two Christian holidays that we celebrate? Christmas and Easter, right? Those are the two. Why? Because those are the two biggest events. Right? The virgin birth and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Those are the two biggest signs. Because the sign Jesus is already giving throughout the entire Bible is, hey, I'm going to rise again. But the sign he already gave is the virgin birth. Those are the two big signs. And this is prophesied all throughout the Old Testament where it's going to take place and all of these things. So the virgin birth and the resurrection are the two big events. Now, there's a lot of people that question the virgin birth. We're going to talk about that in a second. Let me show you one other thing, though, in Matthew 1. 23. I have heard people criticize this verse and say, well, wait a minute. When was Jesus ever called Emmanuel? Right? Why does the Bible say that he's called Emmanuel? When was he ever called Emmanuel? It's commonly reported by the world people know his name as Emmanuel. You know the church I went to in West Virginia for several years? You know what the name of that church was? Emmanuel Baptist Church. Did you know that probably outside of First Baptist Church, I think the most common word for church in the U.S. for Baptist Church is Emmanuel Baptist Church. It's probably the most common. First Baptist, Trinity Baptist, Emmanuel Baptist. Those are the big names. I mean, Emmanuel Baptist, it's not just my church. It's a common church. My good friend, Pastor Jason Robinson, he was ordained by the pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church. We sing hymnals where we call his name Emmanuel. The Christmas song, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. I mean, everyone knows his name's Emmanuel. So he should be called Emmanuel. He's still called Emmanuel today. That's not the primary name that you call Jesus, but he's still called Emmanuel today. Okay? Now, turn to First Timothy chapter 3. First Timothy chapter 3. First Timothy chapter 3. First Timothy chapter 3. Now let me say this, that when it comes to the things we teach at our church, obviously I recommend that people teach these things on to their kids so their kids know the Word of God. However, this is kind of the one event that's going to be very, very, very, very, very difficult for a young child to understand because they don't understand how children are normally created at a young age. Nor am I telling you you should be telling a very young child that. I would just say what we tell our kids is that Jesus Christ is the only one that did not have a human father. His father is God the Father. We don't say anything other than that because my oldest son is five. I just think that's too young to understand all of those things. You can do whatever you want raising your kids. I do think we ought to tell our kids about the virgin birth without having to necessarily explain it in detail because they're not going to comprehend that, nor is it necessarily are they at the right age to fully comprehend that. But we should certainly tell our kids that the birth of Jesus was very different than anybody else because they need to understand that Jesus Christ is different than anybody else. And the virgin birth, it authenticizes the fact that Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ, God in the flesh and all of those things. Now notice what it says in 1 Timothy 3 verse 16. And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness. So in this verse you see a colon after the word godliness and then there's going to be a list of things and all of these things are encompassed in great is the mystery. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on the world and received up into glory. All of these things are a bit of a mystery where it's like we don't necessarily fully comprehend logically how these things work. We know the Bible teaches them and we believe all of them, but it's not something we have a perfect understanding of. And of course the first one in this list is God was manifest in the flesh. That's probably the most confusing. That's the one where it's like yes, great is the mystery. Why? Because Jesus Christ was 100% God and 100% man. He was not 50-50. 100% God and 100% man. You say why is it a mystery? Because we can't perfectly understand this. Now how do we explain this? Well he's 100% man because he's born of Mary. He's 100% God because God is his Father. Here's the thing. If you beget a child, your child is just as much human as you are. My son Zephaniah is every bit as human as me. Right? Everybody in this room even if they're a young child or a baby they are just as human as anybody else in this room. Well God has a son Jesus Christ, he's just as much God as God the Father. Now when it comes to Jesus Christ, he was not begotten at the virgin birth. He's eternally begotten which we've talked about recently. But he's all God because if God is his Father, he's going to be just as much God as God the Father is. And he's eternally God the Son. And so Jesus Christ when he was here, he was 100% God and he's 100% man. Now turn your Bible to 1 Timothy chapter 2. 1 Timothy 2. 1 Timothy chapter 2. In the Old Testament you have appearances of God. And the general term for an appearance of God in the Old Testament is called a theophany. Okay? Now of course the Bible says no one can see the face of God the Father and live. So when someone is speaking to God face to face, when Jacob is wrestling God in Genesis 18 where he's speaking to Abraham in these examples, it can't be God the Father because no one can see the face of God the Father and live. But the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him the Bible says. The only begotten Son of God the Father. And so there's another term called a Christophany which is an Old Testament appearance of the Son of God Jesus Christ. Okay? So you have for example in the Bible Melchizedek. My mind was blank. Melchizedek in the Bible is an Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ, the Son of God is an example. Probably the most famous very important one, one the New Testament mentions. Those are Old Testament appearances. But see there's a difference between Melchizedek and Jesus Christ after the virgin birth. You say, why Brother Stuckey? Well what does it say about Melchizedek? Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life. Because humanly speaking, he had no beginning. He's eternal. And he has no end. He's eternal. He has no father, mother, earthly here. Because here's the thing. I mean the Father Jesus is God the Father. But earthly speaking without father, also without mother in the Old Testament. You say, why? He has not been born of the Virgin Mary. And so there's a difference. The Old Testament I mean the Bible says flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. So there is a difference between Jesus Christ after the virgin birth and an Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ after the virgin birth, He's 100% God, 100% man. In the Old Testament a Christophany without father, without mother. And I know I'm going deep. I'm talking about the virgin birth. I want to go deep because you've heard about the virgin birth every Christmas. The only church service you went to growing up was Christmas, right? So you've heard the virgin birth a lot of times. I've got to try to present new information. Now let me give you some quotes from various religions that have very weird views about the virgin birth. Because what we believe about the virgin birth we can't comprehend this. But the Bible clearly teaches this. But there are so-called religions and even so-called Christian religions that they go away from the virgin birth. And here's the thing. The two foundational things about our faith that you don't mess with are the virgin birth and the resurrection. I mean, if somebody came to you and they're like, you know what? I love the new IFB. Man, I'm post-trib, hard preaching, soul winning, King James only. There's just like one thing I don't agree on. I don't agree on the virgin birth. It's like, get out of here. It's like, you're a heretic. I mean, that's the one thing you don't mess with. And there are Christian religions that mess with this. The biggest is probably Mormonism. Here's what it says in Mormonism. And it says here, Mormon apostle Bruce McConkie, he was the most famous Mormon author. He wrote a lot of books and their doctrine and what they believe. And perhaps the most explicit denial of the virgin birth wrote, Christ was begotten by an immortal father in the same way that mortal men are begotten by mortal fathers. Do you understand what he's saying? He's saying that God slept with Mary. That's what they teach. Now here's the thing. A lot of Mormons don't realize this because the Mormons will claim they believe in the virgin birth. And we'll explain why they say that in a second. And what they actually believe is that God slept with Mary. Hey, Joseph, don't worry about marrying your wife. It was just God that slept with her. That is the most perverted and bizarre and weird thing anyone could come up with. That's coming out of the mind of a reprobate. Who would even think of that? That's weird. It's disturbing. And yet, that is what the Mormon Church teaches. Now what's really bizarre is that in the original days of Mormonism, Joseph Smith and Brigham Young and don't I can't explain this to you because it makes no sense. They taught that Adam from Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis is God. And that Adam's the one who slept with Mary. It's like Adam is long dead. What are you talking about? But somehow they taught that Adam was God and that he slept with Mary. Just weird, just bizarre and perverted. But they'll claim they believe in the virgin birth. And here's what it says from this article. You might ask, how can Mormons who believe this say that Christ was born of a virgin? This is done by changing the definition of the word virgin. The Virgin Mary did not have sexual relations with a mortal man, they say, but instead was impregnated by an immortal man. Our Lord is the only mortal person ever born to a virgin because He is the only person who ever had an immortal father. That is bizarre. That's perverted. That's disturbing. And not all Mormons believe this. Actually, a lot of Mormons don't believe this because they don't even know they teach this. They think they believe in the virgin birth. And no, you don't. Because here's the thing, when you join a new religion, you're joining a new so-called Christian religion, at the door they don't just tell you what they believe because they're embarrassed by it. They don't just say, well, here's our beliefs. We believe that God slept with Mary. Why? Because people would leave immediately. It's like you throw a duck in boiling water, it jumps out. And the expression they say, you put it in cold water and slowly heat it up, it will boil itself to death. Now, by the way, that's not actually true, but that's an expression. The duck will also jump out when the water gets hot. But it's a common expression, and the idea is this, it's like when you have a cult and something like that, they're kind of ashamed and embarrassed about what they believe, so they kind of bring you along slowly. You know what? I'm not embarrassed about anything I believe about the Word of God. In fact, we have a whole doctrinal series where I make it very clear what we believe. You say, why? I'm not embarrassed like other Baptist pastors about repentance, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. I don't need to hide what I believe. Because if someone disagrees and says, I don't want to go to your church, I'd be like, well, wait a minute, one second. Just before you leave, can you just give us ten minutes to try to give you the Gospel since we're never going to see you again? Because if they vehemently disagree on that topic, they're not saved. That's the problem, right? Other than the Mormons, here's another list of various Christian religions that deviate. The teaching of oneness. I mean, even though the Bible says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, they believe that God turned into Jesus, basically manifest Himself as the Son. No, no, no. We don't believe that because Jesus is eternally the Son. And they believe it takes place at the virgin birth. There's a religion called Coptic Orthodox in Egypt that there's millions and millions of followers, a version of Orthodox, and they believe that Jesus is created. The Jehovah's Witnesses believe Jesus is Michael the Archangel. And in the Old Testament, Michael the Archangel turns into Jesus Christ at the virgin birth. Martin Luther King, a famous holiday in the U.S., Martin Luther King, Jr., he was a Baptist pastor that vehemently denied every miracle and denied the virgin birth of Jesus. It's like, why are you a Baptist pastor? Right? The last one I want to mention on this is Islam. Because here's what's interesting about Islam. Islam believes in the virgin birth. They believe Jesus is the Messiah. They believe Jesus is the Christ. They obviously have no understanding of what the Messiah or the Christ is, since they deny Him being the Son of God and God. But they believe in the virgin birth. This past week, I was kind of curious, I wasn't sure what the answer to this is. Do Muslims believe Jesus is perfect? I wasn't sure. They believe in five primary prophets, and Jesus is one of them, and Muhammad's the last. But I was curious, do they believe He's perfect? Here's what's interesting, they don't really answer that question. They kind of avoid it. On websites, they're like, well, you know, it's not really clear. I mean, He's pure and holy at His birth, but all babies are pure and holy. And it's like, do you believe He's perfect or not? Now, I'm sure there's Muslims that would tell you and give you an honest answer, but I'm on an apologetics website, they won't answer the question. Do you believe Jesus is perfect or not? Well, here's the thing. If you believe in the virgin birth, how could you deny He's perfect? Because who's His Father? God. What sin nature does He have? But of course, they don't want to say that, because they say that, they realize, well, that kind of makes it seem like He's God if He's perfect. Because there's none good but one that is God. So they just kind of avoid the question. They sort of imply He's a sinner without saying it, because they don't have any verse to back up what they believe in their scriptures. Right? They don't want to say it, because they don't have a good answer. Here's the thing. If you believe in the virgin birth, the actual virgin birth as the Bible teaches, that means Jesus Christ is God. There's no way around it, because He has no sin nature. Sin is passed down from Father to Son according to the Bible. It started with Adam, and it gets passed down from every father. Who's the father of Jesus? God the Father. Raised by Joseph, Joseph did not beget Jesus Christ. And so Jesus Christ had no sin, and there's none good but one that is God. So the question is, was Jesus good? Well, everybody's going to say yes, because in Him is no sin. Of course He's good. Well, that means He's God. You cannot say Jesus is good. And when the Bible says there's none righteous, well, obviously Jesus is an exception, because He's God. But no human being, none of us are righteous. There's none good but one that is God. Jesus was not denying He was God. He was saying He was God. The rich young rule that was saying good master is like, wait a minute, how are you calling me good master if you don't believe I'm God? That doesn't make any sense, because no man is good. And this man didn't understand that he was guilty and he needed a Savior, so Jesus is explaining nobody's good. And isn't that exactly what we do when we go soul winning? Because when we go soul winning, what I always recommend, what I do is, you know what, all of us deserve hell. All of us are guilty. I don't try to just pin the person and say, you're a horrible person. I say, yeah, you know what, I've also sinned. I also deserve hell. Right? And Jesus is saying, hey, you know what, there's none good but one that is God. So first you need to understand what it means to be good, which means to be perfect according to the Bible, which none of us are. And then you have to understand the nature of Jesus Christ. You have to understand who God is. 1 Timothy 2 verse 4, who will have all men to be saved and to come under the knowledge of the truth. That is God's will. Not everybody gets saved, but that is His will. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. The Bible says there's one God, and we believe that. We believe that God eternally exists in three persons, but there's one God, and there's one mediator between God and men. Why was Jesus Christ able to be the mediator between God and men? Because 100% God, 100% man. I mean, the Bible says in Hebrews, He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. Wherefore in all things that behooved Him to be made like unto us. He was 100% man. And He's able to be the mediator. Why? Because He's all God and all man. And here's the thing. You say, well, Brother Stuckey, I mean, Mary is my mediatrix. Right? Here's the problem. She wasn't God. Here's the problem. She was a sinner. This is why she says, my soul hath rejoiced in God my Savior, saying, I need a Savior too. And in fact, the Bible mentions her doing things that are wrong. I mean, she's a godly She just won her poll of the favorite woman in the Bible. And you know what? She's arguably probably the godliest woman that there is in the Bible. There's probably a good chance why she's the one who raised Jesus Christ. And she was the mom of Jesus Christ. But she was a sinner. She could not be a mediator. By the way, you dead sure better believe no Catholic priest can be the mediator. I mean, Mary was a sinner, just like all of us, but at least she wasn't a pedophile. Right? Like a Catholic priest. It's like, why would you go and confess your sins to a Catholic priest? Right? It's like, no, your mediator is Jesus Christ. This is why when we pray, we pray to God the Father in the name of Jesus Christ. Right? The Bible actually gives us that pattern. It's not vain words we say. We say at the end, in the name of Jesus. Why? Because that's the pattern we have in the Bible. He's our mediator when we speak directly to God the Father. Go to Matthew 1. We'll close up. Matthew 1. Matthew 1. Now, here's the thing you have to realize. As I said in last week's sermon, there's four Gospels. And John's kind of its own thing because it kind of highlights different things. Matthew, Mark, and Luke, there's a comparison. There's a lot of information. There's a lot of similar stories, similar parables, I should say. But the Bible highlights different things and says things differently. When you're reading through Matthew, this doesn't mean that there's no other information out there. Because if we were to look at the book of Luke, which we're not going to, for the sake of the fact it's not in the book of Matthew, we're going to see that the angel appears to Mary. We're going to see her perspective. So when you're reading Matthew, you know, realize there's other stuff and other information and maybe the book of Matthew's just not highlighting that. Because the book of Matthew is primarily focusing on Joseph and why, as I said last week, when you're reading the genealogy in Matthew, I think it's pretty clear it's a genealogy of Joseph where it highlights Mary and Luke because it's a genealogy of Mary. And so this is not the only information, but what you're seeing is this. We're seeing Joseph's perspective. He's not having a conversation with Mary about this. He doesn't know what's going on. No, the angel's appearing to Joseph and separately an angel appears on to Mary. They're not communicating about this because there's a long distance. They're married, but they're not around each other. And there are no cell phones. It's a lot harder to send a letter back in those days, right? I mean, it's just like you can't just send an email or text message or whatever. Matthew 1, verse 24, let's close up. Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord abid in him, and took unto him his wife, and knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus. Now, the Bible highlights Joseph here, and quite honestly, Joseph's not mentioned that much in the Bible. I think a lot of us kind of wonder what happened to Joseph. I mean, he passed away, you presume, but when and how? The Bible doesn't really tell us. But what I do want to say about Joseph is that when we're reading Matthew 1, this is a man of great character. No, he did not beget Jesus Christ, but I think there's also a reason why Joseph is the one that raised Jesus Christ. This is a godly man. You know, he shows a great wisdom to think on these things. He doesn't want to embarrass his wife. The Bible says he's a just man. Not perfect, but he is a very godly man, a very holy man. And Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, and Joseph who raised Jesus Christ, they're two very godly people. There's a reason why God chose them for that specific job of raising the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's close one word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and just getting to see what the Bible says about the virgin birth and help us to realize what we believe about this and the false doctrines that are out there and realize it's very foundational to what we believe as Bible-believing Christians, and we can never question the virgin birth. And yes, it is a miracle, and no, we cannot fully understand it, but we do believe it. We believe that Jesus Christ is 100% God, 100% man, and is the one person able to be the mediator between God and man. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. For the last song, song number 180. Song number 180 on your hymnals. Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? Come on. There will never be a sweeter story. Ready on the first. There will never be a sweeter story. Story of the Savior's love divine. Love that broadly brought the realms of glory. Just to save a sinful soul and quite love Jesus. Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful. Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? Wonderful. It is to be on second pathless as the universe around me. Reaching to the part of the solar wave. Save me, keep me loving, love about me. That is what my heart can truly say. Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful. Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? Wonderful. It is to be on the last wave. Love beyond our human love preventing love of God and Christ how can it be? This will be my dream in every thing. Reaching to be love of Jesus. Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful. Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? Wonderful. Wonderful. It is to be on the last wave. Reaching to be love of Jesus. Wonderful. Wonderful. Thank you.