Reasons to believe, part 1: The virgin birth of Jesus

By Greg Byman
St Joe Community Church
December 16, 2018

​Was Jesus really born of a virgin? Today, Pastor Byman begins a three-part sermon series that explores the credibility of the claim by Jesus and his followers that undergirds the rationale for the church celebrating Christmas today. Part 1, Dec 16: Jesus actually, as a matter of documented history, was born of a virgin. Part 2, Dec 23: Jesus actually, as a matter of documented history, was predicted to be born in Bethlehem. Part 3, Dec 30: Jesus actually, as a matter of documented history, was predicted to be exiled into Egypt.

Successfully predicting simple things like the weather is tough enough. Successfully predicting anything with precision hundreds and even thousands of years into the future is simply impossible for anybody...except for someone with the power to pull it off -- God. Pastor Byman has carved out the last three Sundays of 2018 to present reasons for any intellectually honest seeker to believe, that Jesus is who he said he was -- the Christ child. 

How can I be forgiven by God?

Pastor's Notes

Transcript

​The key text for this morning's message in Matthew Chapter one verses 18 to 25 and we're going to use that as our platform to begin a conversation about a truth in the Bible that is one of the truths that has since its inception been attacked one person said Can someone be a Christian and not believe in the virgin birth and I think a proper thing would say you don't have to know about the virgin birth to be a Christian but once you're a Christian you believe in the virgin birth and say Well boy why is it such a critical matter well 1st of all do we believe the Bible is the Bible or are we going to come as a Christian and say I'm going to edit the Bible according to what I like what the Bible says or what in my mind makes sense you know it doesn't make sense for me that a perfect holy perfect perfect absolutely right God would still want me in his life and he would save me from my sins and he would invite me into his family as a son forever knowing and his for knowledge that I would still mess up as a son and then I would still not do what he asked me to do and that I would have a growing period where he would be possibly even grieved once in a while based on my behavior and yet he invites me into a relationship with himself in a way that I don't deserve Why do people get married when the it's the same issue why do people have kids when we know that they can grieve our hearts because we want relationships and God desires relationship with us but that a perfect God would want a relationship with imperfect me boggles my mind. And I'm just going to kind of openly say to actually think that God couldn't do something and because I can't logically understand how he would do it is to really put myself in a position I have no place to be how can you tell a God who created the world but there's no way you would ever come into him into history through the virgin birth have a baby without a man involved in the baby making process we're going to explore 3 stories this Christmas this is one of 3 the 1st story the virgin birth next Sunday we're going to talk about how Jesus was born in Bethlehem. And the 3rd story is we're going to talk about in December the 30th on his flight to Egypt all 3 of these stories were predicted in the Old Testament to occur and next week I'm going to share some systematics on how mathematically it is impossible it is more probable that all of us playing the Powerball once would actually hit the $1000000.00 mark then it was probable for Jesus to have fulfilled the prophecies in the Old Testament and we're going to talk about how it was predicted that he was to go and to flee into Egypt and it was predicted that he would be born in Bethleham and it is predicted it was predicted that he would be born of a virgin and I want to find great hope in the fact that God intervenes in human history but he works through human history for it to happen and while God does have a plan in place he uses the thoughts and the ideas and the decision making process that we make on a regular basis so you say well airings predetermine I'll just do what I do. Why I think that we still have an opportunity in the Bible shows that there's no collusion here that oh that's how it was supposed to be so so we position ourselves to happen let's go back to the story for just a moment we know that Joseph when he found out Mary was pregnant made an assumption that she had had she had been promised us and that although they were engaged to be married she had gone out on him and he decided he'd divorce her privately but then when he comes to that moment where he's confronted with the reality and Gabriel says hey you know this is of God He accepted and moves on it was an aha moment but there really isn't anything in Scripture or Joe says that oh yeah I knew that was going to happen yeah A My wife gets to be the one No you just sort of kind of does what he's supposed to do at that point well let's go ahead and get married let's shorten up the engagement process let's move forward and and and be a man do the right thing man up and he did she woman DUP also by the way let it be to me as you would want it to be she told Gabriel when he said to her you're going to be pregnant says that's not possible never been with a man well guess what this has gone happen and Mary said Let it be as you say I'll do whatever the Lord wants me to do so you will meet up he manned up and we have a story of 2 people who accepted the will of God in the same moment that they were fulfilling the prophecy of God when God asks us to do something when he pricks your heart even the small God might prick your heart about something and you're supposed to do that so was that pre-determined of God or is it not just go with it and see what god's up to do what he asks you to do move forward and be ready for the ride of your life. Because it's exciting to be sad it can be glad be happy to be not so happy you have good feelings you have bad feelings but it's a great ride I just described a roller coaster tonight but I like God's roller coaster than the one I've created for my life well I bring all these stories up because I found it interesting as I was getting ready for this series I saw that there's been this for years and I've never really brought it up a whole lot of Christmas time but I thought this year I'd bring it up that there's just seems to be this there's needs to be a new movie a movie needs to be created by Hollywood and it's this one Jesus versus Santa Clause I mean in the end it would not be the movie of the lifetime you know and you know don't be knocking me down Jesus and Jesus don't be taken the limelight sand I mean I don't know what I don't know how this would be children be cheering on both sides I know I you know and we laugh about it it is not a laughing matter to be honest and we know that some of you are uncomfortable when I But the reality is that that we are kind of ANY different cultural moment then maybe some of us are comfortable being in some of your like what's the problem I read a read the 1st part of the month that a New Jersey substitute teacher is not returning to work at school after debunking Santa Ana 1st grade class that teacher is no longer welcome to teach in the class in that school district because he had the audacity to tell the 1st graders that Santa Claus didn't exist and there was actually a letter home to the parents saying they were grieved over the fact that he had spilled the beans and if anybody in here still believes in Santa Claus I'm so sorry but you're but you're not going to get a letter from the elders apologizing for me telling you that there is no Santa Claus OK. But that's it for just a moment there was this is the headlines it was a little more deceiving in what it said than what really happened but here's the headlines the next week or the same week in the journal because that man arrested in Texas after telling kids Santa isn't real that really happened now he didn't get arrested for saying Santa one row he was trespassing but he was causing a disturbance by telling everybody at the church that Santa wasn't real in north Texas some Texas church and he had the audacity to tell them say he was really had a beef about Santa and he want to make sure that everybody in that church knew he was upset about I guess maybe that maybe they had a Santa Clause show percent I don't know so there's Dave with the Santa Clause at Thank you Dave readjusting yourself there. You can tell Dave what you want for Christmas after he drives a truck and he'll just pick out the back whatever you want right. Yeah just don't ask what you say don't ask him where he got it for a yeah. That's good that's good it's a free for all of the day. You know when you hit a subject this sensitive to everybody just the crowd gets lively. Here's some Pew research results appear Research Center does all kinds they ask us about everything they know what kind of toothpaste we like Probably but they really they talk about the trends of society and what people like 5 facts about Christmas in America this was I think came out last year December 18th so it's one year old but I think it's kind of in the same category of relevance 9 in 10 Americans say they celebrate Christmas so 90 percent and 95 percent of Christians celebrate Christmas. So and there is a conversation about this is Christmas a pagan holiday and should Christians actually that's kind of not a moot point for most Christians but but it's fair to say that his birthday was not in the 25th there was some collusion to put a birth date on the calendar that that coincided with the pagan holiday so that it would overtake that pagan holiday and some of the things we do have can be Christian in there some symbolism but do have some history of paganism in their past but that's that's that's for another conversation that I'd be more happy to have over coffee with you sometime but not most people in America celebrate Christmas the role of religion in Christmas celebrations however does appear to be declining 46 percent of Americans say they celebrate Christmas as primarily a religious rather than a cultural holiday in 2013 it was 51 percent so it's declining in the amount of people that actually say it's a religious holiday so so that's that's not the most exciting thing to hear about half say that it doesn't matter how stories great customers for the holiday how many of you have corrected your store clerk and said Oh Merry Christmas OK yes some of you and I've done that before I don't do it in like a mean spirited Oh Merry Christmas. You know. Don't do that don't do that don't don't say it's merry Christmas ma'am when she serves your food and don't and you don't tip or tacky. Tacky but. But most people don't care if they say Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas and I've talked to utilities companies this week I've talked to store clerks this week I've talked to a number of people in professional roles and one person at a hospital said God bless you at the end of the thing but I think that's because you want me to pay the bill but anyway but other than that. Half say it doesn't matter how stores greet customers so you know it you can die on that hill if you want to it's a it's an underlying problem not not as the superficial fix is to make advice a Merry Christmas it's the underlying issue is that people just don't care anymore more and more now when I get depressed here but this is a reality where we live and we don't need to live in this little box called a church building and pretend like the world's all changing around not changing around us or we're going to do something just be aware finger on the pulse right now. And you know your vital signs for you know how to move forward into the culture as a missionary for Jesus number 3 a growing share say religious displays should not be allowed on government property under any circumstances OK Now if that's good or bad but if you are say they should be allowed although they there's more agreement that you can put all the religious displays on there and that's OK Hanukkah anything else you need to put them all on there not just one exclusive thing. And Americans have long argued about whether Number 4 nativities and other religious holidays displays on public property violate the establishment clause however in the 1980 S. The Supreme Court handed down 2 landmark rulings this say that any kind of that religious representation was allowed. So legally we can tell city hall you have to put you have to be we have to you have to let us put manger scenes up but that landmark ruling also says now actually you need to have representation of whatever religious expression wants to be put up in that town of which manger scenes are apart so equal access basically it's like schools kids are allowed to have a religious club in school but any religious club is allowed in school so they can't exclude Christians because they don't like Christianity or they're afraid of it. In favor of a more politically correct club they have to allow all of them or none of them and and schools have the right to say no clubs and just in order to exclude Christian clubs some schools have done that don't agree with that that's what they've done Number 5 last one as we move forward here declining majority of Americans believe the Biblical Christmas story reflects historic events in 201473 percent believed that Jesus was born to a virgin and in recent years we're now down to 66 percent so I say all that to say teachers are getting kicked out for not talking about Santa for talking about Santa disparaging his name saying he's a myth even while nobody really seems to be paying attention to the fact that people are continuing to say Jesus is a myth and not doing about it now them fighting words I'm not here to create a fight I'm here this morning to reiterate the fact that Jesus was born of a virgin and you don't have to check your brain at the door to believe this story and if this story is true. Then all of it's true and if all of it's true I must understand I must do something about what God is telling me in His word and I want to give you some words of encouragement around people you know that don't believe what you believe and for someone here who still exploring faith I want you to understand that Christianity is a credible faith and that you can logically understand what God's word says and apply it to your life and it makes a difference in your life and the same God who can come back to live 3 days after his death and actually atone for my sense of that I can look perfect in His sight is the same God who can come down into Earth as a form of a man through the birth of a woman who'd never been with another man and both stories are as important as the other because it took being born of a woman coming into the world to die as a man perfect man for my sins Jesus came to die and he came through Mary one more thought 60 percent of Americans except at least one new age believe reincarnation astrology psychics or a spiritual presence and physical objects in addition to their Christian faith what I'm trying to say here is you can try to win the public battle of whether someone Odyssey saying Merry Christmas or not or you can start talking about how Santa isn't real and picket the streets if you want to. I'm not saying not to OK I'm not telling you what you ought or ought not do and your conscience before Lord and before the world as a witness for him but what I say is we ought to instead of attacking all the phoneys Let's discover and remember really think and learn carefully what we know is absolutely right. And what we know is true is that Jesus was born of a virgin and the Bible clearly tells us that that's true and if we can talk about that with somebody in a more careful way we may have one we've may have planted seeds that will change the heart and if we plan enough seeds it would change a community it might change a state it might change a nation and by the way I'm going to keep saying Merry Christmas back in a positive way but not just to prove a point because I want them to have a Merry Christmas don't you all right well Jesus was born of a virgin there we go home now Jesus was born a virgin of a virgin it was not now we're not talking about Immaculate Conception the Catholics added to a belief that is not even There's no biblical basis for it that Mary Mary was perfect that's actually not true there's nothing in the Bible that says that's true there's nothing about her life that says that's true she was not a perfect person she was a human agent that God used to bring about the birth of his son his one and only Son and in our statement of faith we actually say that Christ is the eternal Son of God and there's the verse and his incarnation as Jesus Christ he was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary and we take that doctrinal statement that statement of belief which is in our documents as a church it's accepted by hundreds of thousands of churches across the United States and that's that very ver passage is actually based on Matthew Chapter one vs $825.00 but that's not all it's also based on Luke chapter one Luke chapter one the only 2. New Testament books in the Bible that talk about the birth of Christ are Matthew and Luke and in Luke chapter one vs 31 and says now listen you a conceiving give birth to a son and you will call his name Jesus and Mary there is 34 How can this be since I have not been intimate with a man 1st 35 The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you therefore the Holy One will be born to be born will be called the Son of God and in chapter 2 verse 7 she had a healthy olive as healthy or not but she had to have she had full term pregnancy and then she gave birth to her 1st born son and she wrapped him struggling cloth and laid in a feeding trough because there was no room from in the end she gave birth to the son that the angel said would happen it would appear Matthew Chapter one Verse $18.00 to $25.00 Gabriel says Hey Joseph This is going to happen because and Isaiah Chapter 7 now I'm going to do a bunch right now and you can just write the Scripture verses down because rock you get all of your going to but in Azad Chapter 7 verse 14 God told Isaiah that this was going to happen and let me read for you some 14 Therefore the LORD Himself With give you sign the version will conceive have a son and name him Emmanuel Now let me just pause right there because there are some detractors who will say that Isaiah said a young woman will conceive and then later the translators of the Hebrew Bible into the language that they could read at that time the step to a gent was a translation back in Jesus' day that they used and he said Well they they just inadvertently instead of saying young woman they put virgin. And that could possibly mean that she did have a man in her life in the Joseph was the one the son with the father of the Son but then Matthew saw that it said that and he mistakenly added to his scripture that it would be a virgin and he changed the story to fit the context of what he thought was true well there's a couple of holes in that but suffice it to say that young woman and burgeon were synonymous and in a culture in which fidelity and purity were of utmost importance other words day by the way when Joseph found out Mary was pregnant under the law of the Old Testament he could have had her put out into the public square and stoned to death for him for her illegitimate child's for the fact that she was pregnant so there's a high premium on purity high premium on on doing the right thing in sexuality and so for Isaiah to write that at that time period then idea of the word in the Hebrew meaning young woman meant the same thing as a version and so it was synonymous so much so that the translators said Well that's exactly the same word and they grab the word virgin in their translation what I'm saying here is that while there is a very minority voice of people who have some scholarly background most people who go against it don't really have enough scholarly background to have credibility to go against the idea that Isaiah was saying the same thing that Matthew quoted in his story account but it wasn't just in Isaiah Chapter 7 that God said that he would come down into this world through the Virgine Genesis Chapter 3 is when God 1st introduced to us the concept 1000 years before Jesus even entered the scene when he said in chapter 3. That he was going to come to this world and save us through the birth of someone that was only going to come from a woman not a man let me just catch you up in Genesis Chapter 3 we have the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden they had chosen to disobey God They said no there's no way this is true and they took from the tree of the knowledge fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and they sinned and there were consequences for that sin and Adam was held responsible for that sin because he was the one that was to lead Eve to do right and he let Eve lead him and it wasn't that he that wasn't this the sin was he did not stop or God told Adam not to eat from that tree and he let his wife try it and when she didn't die he tried it I mean I'm just kind of removed tween lines here so I don't you know he kind of lost his credibility at this moment and then God held him accountable for what happened and because of Adam's sin that sin is inherited through men all down through the history up until I am a Son of Adam and need the Son of God to save me see how that was and when they sinned they were cursed men would be hard labored and they would not get ahead in life in their work there be weeds in their garden their truck would break down the house would always need repaired it always be problems in the garden of weeds there's always going to be a problem at work as the machinery is not always going to work right I mean you just go down through the ages and you and I know that things get worse not better and we have to work and manage to make it better or it continues to get worse and we have to solve problems all the time it work well that's the curse. And then it said that women would would struggle and be have painful childbirth and then or it also be this ruler thing he will rule over you and you will have your desire for him and what is the biggest problem the meat to movement has extension of the fact that men have been exploiting women since the beginning of the ages which is the curse of sin but in the middle of all of that sadness and the reality and the consequences of their sin he says in verse 15 I will put hostility between you and the woman he's talking to Satan himself and between your seat Satan and her seed and he will strike your head and you will strike his heel the woman See I thought the woman had the egg and the man had the seed he was saying that a woman is going to be part of the salvation story of humanity not man he was foreshadowing he was giving us a little glimpse of how he was going to save the world and the virgin birth is the end story of what God announced would happen in Genesis Chapter 3 right after we blew it he said he'd save us and he would do it even as Adam would say and I can fix this I can make this happen now God was going to fix it even after we blew it and then some people say Well Matthew and Luke talk about it but the other 2 gospels don't talk about Jesus being born of a Virgen So there's only 2 stories by the way in the Jewish tradition in the law it said you had to have at least 2 witnesses to be believable Well there's 2 witnesses Matthew a disciple of Jesus and Luke the researcher who knew Peter very well. Who who knew Mary very well where we know in history and he was the researcher Dr Luke found the stories and he put them into place under the power of the Holy Spirit so we have the 2 witnesses but some say well because Mark and John are silent about this then that's not nearly as important of a story for us to know and yet I still think based on some scriptures I'm going to show you that mark all those said why did he have to say it because the others had already said or were gonna say it or wasn't it it was so well accepted that that wasn't the reason for why he was writing in the 1st place but in March Chapter 6 verse 3 we see that he said something that would betray his feelings about Jesus' lynage in Mark chapter 6 verse 3 it says he quotes in here isn't this the carpenter the son of Mary and the brother of James and Joe says and Judas and Simon and aren't his sisters here with us so he's quoting someone by saying isn't this the carpenter the son of Mary in the Jewish culture you would have said that you would have said the son of Joseph if his dad was Joseph he would have said Joseph Not Mary so that's sexist Well that's just what it was mother would not have been mentioned in this if it wasn't the fact that Joseph was not his dad so even Mark gives us a glimpse into the fact that Jesus is the lineage was not tied to a human father so what about John John didn't write anything when John was the one that knew Jesus the most by the way I read the other day that just I was reading through the history and there's one author he said I'll It just doesn't matter if he was born of a virgin and why you're all hung up about this in the 1st place it's because you've got also prudish and in Jesus would that say so what is and isn't he illegitimate child and he said so what. Imperfect man came in to save us well no John Chapter 8 verse 41 and several There's a couple of authors of theologians that talk about this John MacArthur who is on the radio Grace to you. It's been a mildly successful man in California in the ministry but wildly blessed by the Lord in ministry. Brings this part out in John's Chapter 8 verse 41 the religious leaders were debating Jesus and in order to cast doubt on his credibility to talk about the circumstances they said in verse 41 the 2nd part of that we were born of sexual immorality they said we have one Father God it was a dig it is lineage you are a little legitimate child and it could I use the B word for who he was because he was a child born in a way that was socially unacceptable and they were trying to dig at his credentials by saying that he was an illegitimate child now if they believe that was true then there was something weird about his birth that was different than anybody who had actually think that Joseph was his father one more thing is people say Well Paul the apostle who wrote the majority of the New Testament under the inspirational Holy Spirit never brought up the virgin birth so that's another vote of silence you've got 2 authors of the gospels that said it wasn't true or that never talked about it and you have Paul and all of what he wrote he never talked about it so the argument from silence is if they didn't talk about it it must not have happened and Matthew and Luke got it wrong by the way when you argue from the from the argument of silence you can go both ways with that. They argue from silences they agree to it they didn't have to say they agreed to it they never refuted it or of a so widely true and accepted by the church during the time in which they were writing they didn't need to write about it and Paul was a very intimate friend with Luke who wrote the gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles which had in the latter part mostly to do with Paul's journeys as a missionary to establish the New Testament church so Luke and Paul were good friends you would have thought that Luke was Paula said you know Luke you need to fix that story because that ain't right he was pretty clear about correcting Peter's life who many think it was like the 1st pastor of the church the 1st Church 1st pastor and he corrected Peter so you would have thought that Paul would have had the guts to correct Luke if Luke got it wrong but he never did he never mention it however in Glacier in chapter 4 verse 4 and says Last 1st the right to go to a place in chapter 4 verse 4 and it's one of my favorite verses because it just puts in context how God acts in history he's not arbitrary he's not haphazard He's not by chance it's not just one of those things is that he woke up one day and said I think I'll save the world through my Son Jesus God had a plan from the very beginning and he has a plan today and let me reiterate the fact that you don't know what the plan is but God's got one and you're in it and God is inviting you to join him in the plan and he has blessing beyond blessing for you to be enjoyed and to be a part of that purpose your life is not an accident you're not haphazard some here say this one will wait a minute my mom had me before she was married what does that make me. So that makes you a human being that is loved by God and your worth is not tied to where you came from you're worthless tied to who loves you and you know who loves you God Your value is not in what you've done to make yourself who you are it's God that has done something for you well beyond your circumstances that you've brought into this world you're not tied to anything that happened to you and you there's nothing about you that you should ever think that you're not valuable why would Jesus down across a few of you are valuable why would he ever even go to the effort to care about you why would you even know about him if you didn't matter that he woke you up to know who he was you're important because God loves you and he cares for you and this verse right here you can just put yourself in this verse because you're a part of history and you're not here by accident there's a purpose and a reason for why you exist on this earth and why you still breathe oxygen in and out just as much as we are excited about that Pastor Dave is still with us today and God has a purpose and a plan for his life I don't know about 2 minutes but right now he does and we were all in this together you need to be ready to die but let him figure out when that's going to be you need to start working on a buck at least in other words I love this passage it says but when the completion of time Came In other words there is a moment when God needs to do something because it's time to do it God sent His Son born of Joseph No no no don't say that born of a woman born under the law to redeem those under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons and just as Joseph adopted his little boy that Mary had not by his own doing. And how do you love that child so much that that child's identity became ingrained so much that he was his father's he he was a carpenter son and jet engines this was known as a carpenter because his earthly father who adopted him loved him and brought him in and gave him a life of meaning and purpose not knowing that his purpose every purpose he would have life would be but knew this much that that child's in my life and I got to do something with this child and just as Joseph gave us the word picture of adopting that child God the Father is inviting you to watch him sign your adoption papers this morning to be a son and daughter of the one true king Matthew West sings a song I'm a child of the one true king I'm a child of the one true king you know. I've got 4 beautiful children and when you tell me I do have beautiful children I agree with you 100 percent but more important to me being their father is that they've signed they've watched God sign their adoption papers and their sons and daughters of the one true king because God gave them what I could never give them and that's eternal life forgiveness of sin a true purpose and meaning in life I'm trying to teach him how not to live on my couch for the rest of their lives God is teaching them how to live and giving them power to live in ways I could never give them that power John Paul says in this passage that he was born of a woman if he had any sense about him that the story was wrong he would have said born of a man Joseph born to JOSEPH ROE quickly and we're going to close but there are some other outside sources beyond the Bible that actually point to the fact that Jesus was born of a virgin version birth was accepted as fact by the early church fathers. And if you want to look these up for yourself and I'll have all this is all going to be online and if you're listening in a recording of this later all of this is online physically and you can look this up yourself but Ignatius who was actually taught by John the Apostle arest it is just a martyr in the in 2125 A.D. In 150 A.D. there were some writings from these guys Tertullian wrote about the virgin birth all of the early fathers that people look to to the early formation of doctrine and beliefs every one of them said except for just a few that were marginally speaking into the Christian faith and were resounding Lee. Voted out in terms of being heretics and they were not correct in fact almost every heretical. Story that is brought or any new revelation from Mark or revelation from James and they are all things that were written hundreds of years later and then put names on it the think make it think that it was somebody that was back in the Times of Jesus all of these usually stem from the same group of people that were resounding Lee. Known to be anti Biblical and their approach to Christianity and were resounding we turned out most of the cults today that you have Jehovah's Witnesses Mormons they all reach back to these heretical heresy false teachers that were that were labeled as false in the early days of the church and they just keep resurfacing and let me just say this Satan if he can attack some of the most basic truths of the Bible and cause doubt he can cause doubt for everything else. And Satan has been attacking the virgin birth through other sources ever since the early Jews actually said that Jesus was an illegitimate child and that he was born to a born because of an illicit affair with a soldier named Pompei S. Or something like that I forget that I meant to write that down in my notes you can look that up yourself why would they bring that story up why couldn't they just say well he was Joseph kid because there was already something odd about it that they had to explain away as not a miracle of God So even in trying to cover up the virgin birth they had to come up with a cover story that actually accepted the fact that Mary was pregnant by a man other than Joseph and did you know that the Koran actually co-operates the story the Qur'an actually says literally that Jesus was born of a virgin who was impregnated by the Holy Spirit and I don't go the Qur'an for anything really but I find it interesting that a cult that the Muslim faith affirms the virgin birth of Jesus that's the one thing at Christmas we all agree on so if you have a Muslim friend ask him about that just say you know did you know that we have something in common and they go you're kidding me oh well we do believe in ONE GOD THERE IS A We don't believe in the same God because Allah is not Jesus Christ he's not God the Father Son Holy Spirit so there is a difference there we do believe in a monolith mano a mano theistic faith one God but you know we also believe that Jesus was born of a virgin and they'll go you're absolutely right and if they don't know the Koran say go look it up and let me know where that is it's a good starting point for conversation about faith with a Muslim Henry Morris who is Answers in Genesis He says he's well renowned theologian and speaker I think he's passed away now as I think yes. I was quoted as saying To say such a miracle is impossible is to deny the existence of God or else to deny that he can that he can to deny that he can control his creation is there he doesn't exist or is important he can't do anything about what he made so really the question this morning is do you believe the story will you trust this story has been passed down through the ages and handed to us as truth and the final question of this morning is if you believe it then have you taken that next step and said that you've trusted in Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior the whole reason he came here was to save us from our sins the one who saves Jesus that's his name 1st on that to excuse that's his name he saved us from our sins and to enjoy the story and miss the point is every author's nightmare when they write a book this book's about you and about me it's not timing value in your life not in this world perspective but from your Creator's perspective and to just say God if you could do that then you could do something with me well if you could if you could jump biology and make something happen where you entered into the world as a human being making of yourself when you came into the world than Surly you could take my imperfect life and do something with me because quite honestly I haven't seen anybody in the room here that I know and I know some your stories and I don't know all of you don't need to but I know the stories in the room that it's chump change to take care of whatever's going on your life compared to impregnating aversion your Easy peasey to God. Your not complicated was that phrase years ago it's complicated Yeah it is but not to God Quit looking in the mirror for the answers look up quit looking around you for the realty for those answers look up look at the story and apply it to your life.