Coming to Terms with the Virgin Conception

Yeah, it is a blessing to come together as brothers and sisters in Christ and to worship God through song and Uh, every Christmas season, I am struck by the fact that, uh, the stories that we celebrate are the best stories. in existence and they're true. Uh, and we can be so thankful that our God came into this world, uh, as a baby and grew up and lived the perfect life that we failed to live. And became our savior.

We have so much to celebrate and to that end, I wanna invite you this morning to turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 1. Matthew, uh, chapter 1, what we do, um, we kinda have a 4 year cycle here at Cornerstone for our Christmas service. There's essentially 4 Christmas narratives that we find in the gospel accounts and we. Uh, just try to rotate every 4 years through these, uh, narratives, and this year we come back to Matthew, uh, chapter 1, verses 18 through 25.

And the title of the message this morning is coming to terms with the Virgin conception. Coming to terms with the virgin conception, uh, and what we're talking about is the virgin conception of Jesus. And hopefully, you grabbed a hard copy of the notes that you can use to follow along, uh, with us, uh, this morning. But let me start with the Apostles Creed, uh, which goes like this.

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary. The Apostles' Creed goes on from there, but I read this far into the creed to point out that from the earliest days of Christianity, the virgin birth of Christ has been one of the central tenets of the Christian faith, and this is the case because the scripture teaches it so clearly. And unapologetically, such as in our passage that we're going to be looking at today.

To be sure to say that Jesus was born of a virgin, uh, is to make a miraculous claim, right? But we should not be ashamed to make such a claim for at least 2 reasons. Number 1, because we have a God who can do the impossible and who can work miracles. Amen.

And another reason, if you need another one, is because everyone makes miraculous claims, regardless of whether they believe in God or not. Explaining the origins of our universe apart from God as the Creator, the physicist Stephen Hawking. Who was an atheist, once said, and I quote, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist.

I have a question for you this morning, which is the more staggering claim? The claim that Jesus was born of a virgin. Or to claim that the universe. Was created by chance out of nothing.

To believe in the virgin birth of Jesus, or to believe in the virgin birth of the entire universe. I recently saw a post on X where a guy posted these words, Christians believe in the virgin birth of Jesus, others believe in the virgin birth of the universe. Choose your miracle. And I like that But let's be honest, the virgin conception and birth of Christ is a staggering claim.

That gives us a lot to grapple with. And today we will see a man grappling earnestly with the virgin conception of Jesus. Some time back there was a mega church pastor here in Southern California who was asked during a radio interview if he believed that Jesus was born of a virgin and listened to his answer, and I quote, I cannot in print or in public deny the virgin birth of Christ, but neither could I preach it or teach it. When I have something I can't comprehend, I just don't deal with it.

Unquote. Well, in our passage today, we're going to find a man named Joseph. Who had trouble comprehending the fact of the virgin conception of Jesus as well, only he did not have the luxury of not dealing with it. He had to deal with it and figure out what happened because it happened inside the womb of his fiance.

And I think you're going to see from our passage today that Joseph, when he is left to his own thoughts, has an awful lot of trouble coming to terms with the reality of the virgin conception of Jesus. But then Joseph receives some words of revelation from God. And it is this very revelation from God that brings him to a place of faith in the reality of the virgin conception of Jesus. And I think we all do well this morning to look at this passage.

In the coming moments and to watch Joseph's journey as it unfolds and to let his own story help us in our journey of faith as well. Again, if you have a hard copy of your notes, um, you'll see the. The way that we're going to break this passage down. We're gonna observe 4 stages in Joseph's journey from confusion to belief in the virgin conception of Jesus, 4 stages in Joseph's journey from confusion to belief in the virgin conception of Jesus.

And the first of those stages, fill in the blanks if you have your notes, is he encounters the miracle of the virgin conception of Jesus in Mary's womb. He encounters the miracle of the virgin conception of Jesus in Mary's womb. Observe how the story begins in verse 8. Matthew says now the birth of Jesus was as follows when his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph.

Before they came together, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. Now when you think of betrothal in biblical times, um, just think of modern day engagement on steroids. Joseph and Mary's marital vows have already been exchanged with each other. They're not living together as husband and wife, but they are pledged to each other, and in the eyes of the law, they are legally already husband and wife, so much so that ending their relationship now during this period would require a legal divorce.

During this period of betrothal that Joseph and Mary are in right now, Joseph is making preparations to provide a home for Mary, getting ready for the day when he would come and take her to his home to be his wife. It would be then that they would physically consummate their marriage, and Joseph would then be able to fulfill his dream of living a quiet life together with Mary until death parts them. But something happens that shatters Joseph's quiet dream. Look again at verse 18.

During this time when Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together, in other words, before they were living together and had come together sexually, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. Now we know from Luke's account. That after being told that she would conceive the Messiah in her womb, Mary had gone to Judea to visit her cousin Elizabeth for 3 months. And then she returned to Nazareth, so it was probably upon her return.

That Joseph discovers that she is pregnant. Now because we have the luxury of reading verse 18, we know how she is pregnant. We know that Mary is with child by means of the Holy Spirit, but Joseph doesn't know that yet. All he knows is that Mary is pregnant.

Joseph doesn't realize it yet, but he has just encountered the reality of the miraculous virgin conception of Jesus, the long awaited Messiah. So how does he respond to this wonderful development? Well, this leads us to the second stage in the story of Joseph's journey from confusion to belief in the virgin conception of Jesus Christ. Number 2, you can fill in the blank.

His own understanding leaves him wanting to divorce Mary quietly. His own understanding. Leaves him wanting to divorce Mary quietly. Observe what the text says in verse 19.

And Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, wanted to send her away, in other words, wanted to divorce her secretly. How's that for a response? To the most wonderful thing that's ever happened in human history. Joseph finds out Mary is pregnant.

And he wants to send her away through divorce. In a nutshell, we learned two things about. Joseph in verse 19, 1st we learned by explicit statement that Joseph is a righteous man, which means that he lived a life of obedience to the law of God. Secondly, we learn by implication that he's a merciful, gracious man.

The text speaks of him as not wanting to disgrace. Mary But instead he wanted to send her away secretly. Basically, what he's wanting to do here is to divorce her with no public accusation. So as not to bring humiliation and shame.

To marry In Deuteronomy chapter 22, the Old Testament law called for stoning if there was sexual unfaithfulness during the betrothal period. But Rome during Joseph's day restricted the degree to which the Jews could practice capital punishment. So typically in this kind of situation, the husband would divorce his fiance, publicly declare her unfaithfulness as the reason for the divorce, and thereby preserve the husband's own honor while leaving the disgraced woman to deal with the shame of the divorce on the grounds of immorality.

But this is not what Joseph wants to do, although he could.

He wants to send Mary away secretly, in other words, without filing formal accusations. And he wants to do this quietly in order to preserve her honor. And yet even this solution is not sitting easy with Joseph. In verse 20, the text says, but when he had considered this.

The Greek word translated considered means to think deeply upon something about which one has very passionate feelings. In fact, the word for anger or passion is inside this Greek word. And I think we can all imagine Joseph's feelings at this point. He's hurting.

He's angry And he's deeply frustrated with the lack of a simple way forward. Joseph is no doubt thinking this is my wife who has pledged herself to me as I have pledged myself to her. I've sought to guard her purity and our relationship, yet she is pregnant, which means that another man has been with her, which may mean that she has been deliberately unfaithful to me. Which would mean that Mary is not the woman that I thought I was going to marry, which means that I won't be the husband to her that I thought I was going to be.

My dreams of our life together are over, and my next action point is to send her away. And to let her go. Quietly Joseph is devastated. Feeling stung by Mary's apparent betrayal, he's confused.

Everything he knows about Mary does not fit with the fact that she is right now pregnant. So he is thinking these things over with deeply passionate feelings. He's arrived at what he's going to need to do. But he is paralyzed and keeps giving consideration to this matter.

And in this state of agitation, Joseph goes to bed. And falls asleep with a broken heart. And before we go to the 3rd stage of Joseph's journey, I want to leave you with this thought as we suspend the narrative here for a moment. Among the many things that we can say about Christianity.

We have to say that Christianity is a religion of the mind. We are called in the Bible to pursue wisdom. We are called in the Bible to consider things carefully. And to think with sober judgment, we're called in the Bible to renew our minds.

We're called in many places in the Bible to use our minds to meditate. Christianity is without a doubt a religion that calls us to rigorous. Intellectual engagement. And yet The same God.

Who calls us to exercise our minds. Is the god. Who tells us that reason alone will never get us to the truth. The same Bible that tells us to use our brains.

Tells us emphatically, do not lean on your own understanding. And this is the case with Joseph in our passage today. As he encounters the reality of the virgin conception of Jesus, he gives it a tremendous amount of careful and passionate thought. Yet with all of his deep thinking, he never arrives at the truth of what has happened to Mary.

In her womb. Joseph doesn't realize it yet, but he is a man who has reached the edge of his reason. And stands in need of revelation. From God And that revelation is going to take Joseph in an entirely different direction.

Than the direction that his normal reasoning is taking him right now. And this leads us to the 3rd stage of Joseph's journey from confusion to belief in the virgin conception of Jesus Christ. Number 3, he receives divine revelation regarding Jesus conceived in Mary's womb. He receives divine revelation regarding Jesus conceived in Mary's womb.

Observe what happens in verse 20. Matthew says, but when he, Joseph had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David. Joseph would know right away that something pretty amazing. Is going down here.

Joseph was no doubt used to people calling him Joseph or maybe Joe, or perhaps Joseph's son of Jacob, which was his father's name, but Joseph's son of David. Certainly, David was his ancestor, but to be called by this title would have been highly unusual. Joseph would know right away that something noble is about to be asked of him. A few years ago, I was at a wedding venue that I was going to officiate.

I was there a couple hours early. And while people were setting up, uh, for the wedding, I was talking to another, uh, man while people were bustling about getting things ready. And while this guy and I were talking together, we heard a woman's voice behind us saying, You guys look like really strong men. And at that point we turned to see who this amazingly perceptive woman.

Could be And we saw a woman who needed help moving some heavy furniture. And she said to us, could you help? Me move this furniture to the place where it needs to go. So what did we do?

Uh, we displayed our manly strength and helped her. But here's my point, this woman had a task for us. And we, if we were smart enough, we could have discerned something about that task simply by how she referred to us, right? And that's what's happening here in verse 20.

The angel is about to ask something that is royal in its nature, but before he asks this royal thing of Joseph, he reminds Joseph of his identity, Joseph, son of David. The angel continues in verse 20 speaking as a messenger from God, the angel says to Joseph, do not be afraid to take Mary as. Your wife, and it is here that we learn that evidently Joseph had been afraid. There was fear involved.

He was afraid to take Mary as his wife, no doubt for fear of displeasing God. And the angel is saying here, Joseph, you're good with God. If you marry. Mary Stop being afraid to take Mary as.

Your wife and observe the reason he gives in verse 20. For the child who has been conceived in her is of. And let's stop right there for a moment. And imagine how riveted Joseph.

would be at this point. No one would have cared more about how a prepositional phrase will finish. Than Joseph is in this precise moment. Where did this baby in Mary's womb come from?

What treacherous man is the father of this child? You can bet that Joseph is listening with rapt attention. And instead of hearing the angel give the name of some evil man who had been with Mary, the angel says in verse 20 for the child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. Wow This means there is no earthly father to account for the presence of this child that is in Mary's womb.

This child is in her womb miraculously through the Holy Spirit who caused the conception of this child to occur. And not only that, but the angel tells Joseph that the child in her womb will come to full term and be delivered and be a boy. In verse 21, the angel says she will bear a son, and you, Joseph, you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Understand that naming someone back in this day was an act of authority, an act of dominion, an act of responsibility.

So the angel is essentially. Saying to Joseph here, even though you are not the biological father of the child that is in Mary's womb, God wants you to be the one who names this child. God wants you to assume responsibility for this child. God wants you to take him as your own and to be an earthly father to him and to bring him up as if he were your own child.

As for the name that Joseph is to give this child, in verse 21, the angel says, you shall call his name Jesus. For literally the Greek text reads this way, for he himself will save his people from their sins. You shall call his name Jesus, for he himself will save his people from their sins. As many of you know, the name Jesus.

Is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Yeshua or Yehoshua, either of those forms, which means Yahweh. Saves. That's the literal meaning of his name. So pay attention to that.

Jesus. Means Yahweh saves, and keep in mind that Yahweh or Jehovah, however you want to pronounce that, is the personal covenant name of God. Yahweh saves. And why is Joseph supposed to call Mary's son by this name Yahweh saves?

Look again at the text, for he himself will save his people from their sins. So think about it, guys. If Mary's son is to be named, Yahweh saves, and the reason for that is because he himself will save. What does that mean about the identity?

Of this child in Mary's womb, it means that Jesus is Yahweh, God. What will Jesus save his people from? The angel says he will save his people from their sins, making it very clear to Joseph the kind of Messiah that this child is going to be. Jesus evidently will not be saving his people from the Romans or from the sins of other people right now.

He will be saving. His people from a more important threat which is their own sins. Evidently the people of Israel's number one problem was not the Romans. Their greatest problem was themselves, and the child in Mary's womb will save them from their own sins first and foremost.

We don't always want to hear this, do we? I think we would rather have a politician come to us and promise to deliver us from the evils outside of ourselves. The evils that are located in other people. And there truly are evils outside of us to be very concerned about.

But we always need to remember that the line between good and evil does not run between the right and the left. Or even between Christians and non-Christians, the line between good and evil runs right through every human heart. And our greatest need is for each of us to be delivered from our own sins, the evil that is inside of us. That is our greatest need.

And we hear the angels' announcement here that Jesus is coming into the world to save each of us from our sins. Which speaks volumes about each one of us and speaks volumes about him. Who's doing the delivering. Nowhere in the Old Testament is any human person ever said to save anyone from their sins.

Everyone knew that only God has the power to accomplish this deliverance from one's own sins. So as Joseph listens to this angel and, and he hears about the work of saving from sins that Jesus is going to do, Joseph would have to start grappling with the fact that this child in Mary's womb is nothing less than God in the womb of his fiance. In fact, I would say this is why Jesus was virgin born and conceived of the Holy Spirit. So that he would be both divine and human, for only a human can die for the redemption of humans, and only God can bear the weight of sin and deliver humans from that sin.

And in the virgin conception and birth of Jesus, God is giving to us a divine and human savior who can accomplish all of that. But thinking back to this moment in Our story. Imagine the impact that just these few words of revelation must have had on Joseph and how far it would have moved him from point A. To point B Joseph goes to bed thinking, my wife has betrayed me.

She's pregnant by some other man. My dream of being married to her is shattered. Our marriage will end in divorce before it even gets off the ground, and what a disgrace this whole thing is going to be. And yet the angel appears from God to Joseph.

And speaks merely two verses of revelation to Joseph thus far. And after these two verses of revelation from God, where is Joseph now? Joseph now realizes several things at once. Mary has not been unfaithful to me.

The child in her womb has been conceived. By a miracle, by the Holy Spirit. This child will be born and grow up and save us from our sins. This child is the long awaited Messiah whom God has promised to send.

This child is Yahweh God. And I'm being asked to adopt this Yahweh child as my own and to be his dad. Wow. What a vast universe of distance there is between point A.

And point B And it was simply these two verses of revelation from God that brought Joseph all of that staggering distance. Imagine how much of a difference a few verses of divine revelation and scripture can make in your life. Or how about all 31,000 plus versus Of divine revelation that are in the Bible and available for you to read and to listen to. Every single day If you find yourself at some Difficult point A.

Today and you need desperately to get to point B. It is divine revelation that's going to get you there just as it did for Joseph. But for that to happen, you have to decide not to lean on your own understanding. But to look beyond your reason.

To his revelation. That's what Joseph is doing. Speaking of looking, as we look back at the text, I should point out that Most translations have the words of the angel ending in verse 21. Most of your translations will have quotation marks.

And then, uh, these translations will treat verses 22 to 23 as commentary provided by Matthew to provide an Old Testament explanation for. What the angel just said. And this is a perfectly legitimate. Way of understanding these verses here and we actually see this formula, uh, 10 times in Matthew's Gospel.

As the gospel moves forward from here, but it is good at least for us to remember that there were no quotation marks in the Greek text, so it is an interpretive decision to close the angel's quote at the end of verse 21 here. Which may be exactly the right thing to do, but for whatever it's worth, I like the interpretation of those interpreters who view verses 22 and 23 to be a part of the words that the angel is speaking to Joseph, and these interpreters view these two verses as the angel's way of providing scriptural assurance from the Old Testament to Joseph.

That what had happened was in keeping with God's prophetic plan. And think about for a moment why Joseph might have needed the angel to provide this additional information from the Old Testament.

Joseph could have this dream that he just dreamed and then easily wake up from his dream and say, Man, that was an amazing dream. I dreamed that I saw an angel who told me that Mary has a child in her by the Holy Spirit, that I'm supposed to go ahead and marry her. But how do I know that I didn't just dream that because I wanted that to be true. So it would seem to make sense for the angel to give Joseph this Old Testament scripture in order to give him something solid and biblical to hang his hat on after he awakens from his dream in order to help him to know for sure the truth of what the angel had communicated to him in the dream.

And if we roll with this interpretation, Then we would understand that the angel is still speaking to Joseph and saying to him in verse 22, now all this took place, all of this has happened to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet. And then he quotes from Isaiah 7:14, where the prophet Isaiah says in verse 23 here, Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. This is a prophecy that was delivered by the prophet Isaiah over 700 years prior.

And it's very possible that the angel is saying to Joseph here, what I've just announced to you, Joseph, is the ultimate fulfillment of this prophecy of Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14.

I would imagine that Joseph, being a righteous man, would have been aware of this passage, and upon hearing it. Uh, from the angel he would now have scriptural revelation to validate what the angel is saying. Joseph would now be thinking this 700 year old prophecy is coming true in the womb of the woman that I'm engaged to, and I am the one who is now being asked to name. This child in her womb, Jesus.

Yet I'm also being told that people shall call his name Emmanuel. Which means God with us. Imanu means with us, and then Ao means God. With us, God, God with us.

And Joseph would be thinking this is yet another indication that this one in the womb of Mary is God, and I'm being asked to be his earthly dad. By the way, does it seem odd to you that Isaiah 7:14 says that his name would be called Emmanuel, yet the angel is telling Joseph to name him. Jesus It shouldn't be odd. Just looking at Isaiah alone, we're told that the Messiah will be called a handful of different names.

Here we're told he'll be called Emmanuel and Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6. We're told that his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. According to the Old Testament, the Messiah will be called many names, and the angel is giving. Joseph merely one of them here Emmanuel, which means God.

With us. And that's what the angel is pointing Joseph to as he quotes from Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14. But anyway, let's let's recap for a moment. Uh, Joseph thinks deeply inside his own head about what's going on in connection with his pregnant wife, but his own reasoning fails to tell him that a virgin conception of the Messiah has occurred.

But then Joseph receives revelation from God telling him that this is what has happened and it's what we've just gone over. So now Joseph has a choice to make. And the choice is between what his own human reasoning told him. What was going on and what God's revelation.

Told him was going on. So Joseph is at a crossroads of decision right now. Do I go with my reasoning or God's revelation? And which way is Joseph going to go?

Will he stick with his own understanding, or will he follow God's revelation delivered through the angel and through this prophecy from Isaiah chapter 7. And what will you do? When your reasoning tells you one thing and God's revelation tells you another. Will you stick with your own ideas?

And your own opinions. Or will you say, I'm gonna follow. God's revelation. I think it was Chuck Swinle who said something to the effect that when you're reading the Bible, and you realize that you and God disagree about something.

It means one of you is wrong. And it's always you, and God is always right. And Joseph is at this crossroads right here. And thankfully Joseph is going to set aside his own reasoning and follow after God's revelation, and this brings us to the final stage in Joseph's journey from confusion to belief in the virgin conception of Jesus.

Number 4, he follows God's revelation regarding Jesus conceived in Mary's womb. He follows God's revelation. Not his own reasoning regarding Jesus conceived in Mary's womb. Observe what Joseph does in verse 24.

And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took Mary as his wife. There is a wonderful feeling of swift obedience here. Joseph is clearly a man who has surrendered to God, just like Mary is. And if God wants to use Joseph's wife to be the mother of the Messiah, Joseph recognizes God's right to do that.

Joseph understands that not only does he belong to God, but that his wife belongs to God first and to him second. And Joseph doesn't hesitate to obey. The text says Joseph awoke from his sleep and did, as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and he took Mary as his wife. And in that one act, Joseph is embracing all the mystery and the wonder and the challenges and the blessings that lie on the road ahead.

I'm sure Joseph still has a 1000 questions in his mind, but that doesn't keep him from obeying God. He doesn't need to take a few days to think this over. He takes Mary as his wife, and in doing that, he is in that same moment taking Jesus as both his son. And his savior.

We often Make much of the fact that God chose Mary to be the mother of Jesus because of the kind of woman that she must have been that would qualify her for such a special role. And that's absolutely true. But I think we should also say that part of the reason that God chose Mary. It was because of the kind of man that she was engaged to.

A righteous man who stood ready to believe along sight of Mary, to believe the impossible, and to believe God over his own ideas, and to obey whatever God commanded him to do. And we even see the extent of that obedience at the end of verse 25. We're told in verse 25 that Joseph takes Mary as his wife, which means that he brings her into his home where they now live together as husband and wife. With one caveat, toward the end of verse 25, the text says, or this is the whole of verse 25, but he kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son.

He kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son. Have you ever wondered why the text bothers to tell us this? That Joseph Took her into his home. lived with her as a husband, but he kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son.

There is an answer which in my mind may explain why I think there's a good chance that it was the angel who quoted Isaiah 7:14 in Joseph's Dream. In that passage, it says a virgin shall do two things a virgin shall conceive, and a virgin shall give birth. So the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14 is not simply that a virgin will conceive, but also that a virgin will give birth and so in keeping with this prophecy of Isaiah 7:14, Joseph keeps Mary a virgin until she gave birth. To her son And finally we are told one final thing that Joseph did in obedience to the angel.

At the end of verse 25, we read, and he, Joseph, called him. Jesus And what Joseph is doing here is so much more than Simply Naming a child. This is a confession of faith from Joseph. This is the shortest and yet most eloquent confession of faith ever uttered by any one.

Joseph looks upon this miracle child. And says, Jesus. Yeshua Yahweh saves. Fully believing the promise of the angel that this one.

is going to save Joseph and Mary. And all people from their sins. All things considered, when we ponder the narrative arc of our passage today, we see that when Joseph was faced with a choice do I follow my own reasoning inside my own head, or do I follow God's revelation? Joseph chose to follow God's revelation the full distance from a broken heart all the way to the greatest one word confession of faith anyone could ever utter.

Jesus Yahweh saves. And that word Jesus coming from Joseph's lips is the last word of this particular story. Left hanging in the air for all of us. To savor this morning.

On the 25th anniversary of Larry King's career as a broadcaster. Larry King was asked which figure from history would he most like to interview. And Larry King had an immediate reply. He said, Jesus Christ.

Why? Listen to his answer, quote, I would like to ask him if he was indeed virgin born. The answer to that question would define history. For me Unquote.

Larry King was no Christian, but he got it. If Jesus is indeed virgin born, that fact should define history for all of us. And he should be the one we most want to interview in order to ask him life's most important questions, right? Think about the 3 most fundamentally important questions that anyone could ever ask.

Where did we come from? What has gone wrong. With the world And what is the solution? Where did we come from?

What has gone wrong with us and with our world? And what is the solution? Who can fix this? Those are 3 fundamentally important questions, but there's a 4th question.

That we actually must answer first. In order to answer those three questions, and that is who should we listen to in order to answer these questions. And we need to figure that out because there are many people who would love to answer these questions for us. And they would give us a whole variety of answers.

As many of you know, Morgan Freeman is a very gifted actor who has One of the most compelling voices on the planet. I love listening to him and walking, uh, watching him speak. Everything he says sounds compelling. Which is probably why he has played God in two movies.

And why he serves as the narrator for the recent National Geographic television series entitled The Story of God. When he was asked about his belief in God back in 2012, Morgan Freeman said, quote, I think we invented God. So if I believe in God, and I do, it's because I think I'm God. Unquote Should we listen To Morgan Freeman.

For the answers to life's most important questions. Who is the most qualified person to give us the answers to life's most important questions? Well, if Jesus was, in fact, virgin born. Conceived of the Holy Spirit.

Then that means that he is the one that we should listen to above all others. Amen. And our passage today makes clear that Jesus is indeed the virgin born one who doesn't merely speak for God, he speaks as God. As the god man.

And keep in mind that Jesus' virgin birth is only the beginning of his credentials. He also went on to live a perfect life without sin. He also performed miracles and he healed the sick and he raised the dead and he taught truth like no one ever taught truth before and then he died on the cross for our sins and thereby showed us a greater love. Than has ever been shown.

And then after he was crucified on the cross on the 3rd day, he was raised from the dead. He came forth from the tomb alive in resurrection power, having conquered death, our great enemy. And then Jesus was ascended by God to The right hand of the Father, where Jesus now reigns from on high in the highest position of honor. And authority in all of the universe.

When you ponder all of those things about Jesus. You realize that Jesus isn't just the most qualified person for the job of answering life's most important questions. He's in a league all by himself. And it's not even close.

And there's an infinite number of reasons why he is the voice that we should listen to above all others. And speaking of the 3 original questions that I just mentioned in our passage today, we find the answer to 2 of those 3. Questions we learn what has gone wrong with us, and that is what it's sin. We are sinners who have sinned against a holy God who created us for relationship with Himself.

We have a sin problem, and our biggest sin problem is not other people's sins, but our own sins. We need to be saved from our own sins. But how does this salvation from our own sins happen? Who is it that can save us?

Can we maybe save ourselves? At Muhammad Ali's funeral back in 2016. His wife Lonnie delivered a very touching tribute to her husband. And near the end of her eulogy, she spoke of Muhammad Ali's deep concern about his own salvation.

And she said, and I quote, he awoke every morning thinking about his own salvation, and he would often say, I just want to get to heaven, and I've got to do a lot of good deeds to get there. Unquote Well, Muhammad Ali was very right to be concerned for his salvation. We all should be, and his concern reminds us of how desperately we all need this salvation. And I hope that before he died he came to realize that it's only Jesus.

Who could save him And save all of us from our sins, as the angel says in our passage today. Jesus died on the cross to provide real atonement for The sins that we have committed, and he stands ready to forgive anyone who is willing to receive this free gift of atonement that God provides them through the sacrifice that Jesus provided of Himself at the cross. So if you are here this morning and you have never cried out to Jesus and called upon him to be your savior. If you have never looked to him and said Jesus, the one whose name means Yahweh saves, save me.

If you have never done that, I urge you to do that today. No matter what sins you have committed, Jesus would be delighted if you would look to him and believe in Him. To save you from your sins and bring you into relationship with his heavenly Father forever. It's what he came into this world to do, to save people just like you.

And me In closing, we learn. Something else in our passage today. That I think is worth closing on, and that is that sometimes life's greatest blessings begin with the turmoil of shattered dreams. Just like what happens to Joseph in our text today, he's at the lowest point of his life at the beginning of our story, not realizing that the circumstances bringing him pain are merely the prelude to something more wonderful than he could even begin to imagine.

So maybe you find yourself in painful circumstances right now. That are ripping your heart in two. Maybe certain dreams of yours have been shattered and you don't know where to go from here. Please hear me when I tell you.

That God is working. He's up to something way bigger than your dreams. And this is the perfect time for you to open your heart and open your Bible and let God speak His revelation. To you This is the time for you to surrender to him.

And to obey him and to let him bring you into his dreams for you. For his dreams are far greater than anything you can imagine. As the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2:9, eye has not seen nor has ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man the things God has prepared for those who love Him. If Joseph were here this morning, I think he would laugh out loud at that verse.

That I just read and tell us how amazingly true it is. Because it's what happened to him. And it can happen to you if you will join. Joseph in trusting God.

And not leaning upon your own. Understanding Let's pray together. Lord, I love the fact that. Christianity is not a religion that bypasses the mind.

We are called to engage in rigorous intellectual thought. Yet we're also told that That our own thoughts cannot. Contain our own reason cannot contain. The full truth Of what all is true.

That is revealed to us in your word. If we limit ourselves to our own reasoning. We will live a small life indeed that will never be any larger than our pea-sized brains. But your revelation cannot be contained in sight of our reason.

Yes, it occupies our reason. In many wonderful ways, but it goes so far beyond our reason. And honestly, Lord, if I read the Bible and I understood everything and everything just fit nicely inside of my pea-sized brain, I would smell something fishy big time. And realize this book must have been written by humans.

But we are grateful for. What is revealed that. Engages our minds, but then also what is revealed that just blows our minds. And leaves us standing in awe of.

Our great God and Savior. I pray for any who are here this morning who are hurting. Lord, this room is full of people whose dreams were shattered and in the shattering of their dreams, you brought them to yourself, and now they're living a greater dream than they ever dreamed before. But I know there are some in this room, Lord, whose hearts are aching.

And they're where Joseph was at the beginning of our story today, and I pray that you would meet them where they're at. And manifest your love to them. That you would touch their hearts, and that you would draw them to yourself and bring them into your greater dreams for them. Help us this Christmas season, Lord, to cherish the wonder of the things that we celebrate.

During this time of year and throughout the year to not take any of these things for granted. This world would be a very dark place if Jesus didn't come into this world. I shudder to think of the kind of man I would be if it were not for him. Thank you, Lord.

For sending Jesus to save us from our sins. And to bring us into relationship with you. And if there's anyone here today that has never experienced that, I pray that you would save them in this moment that they would look to you and believe in you, Lord Jesus, and claim you as their savior, or that they would come and speak with us afterwards so that we can share with them how they can know this wonder of salvation. And help us in the coming days this week as we spend time with family and friends.

To manifest the grace and truth of Christ. And appoint people to him. With joy We ask all of these things, Lord, in the mighty name of Jesus, and all God's people said. Amen.