All right, brethren, let's turn
to Luke chapter one. Let's just read two verses here,
beginning in verse 26. And in the sixth month, the angel
Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee named Nazareth
to a virgin, espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the
house of David, And the virgin's name was Mary. Why a virgin? Most of you here
have been taught and you know the answer to that question.
But there's a lot of people in this world that don't believe
it. But worse than that, they don't
even understand the necessity of it. They have no idea why
this was a necessity. It was an absolute necessity.
Scripture tells us that for as much then as the children were
partakers of flesh and blood, he likewise also took part of
the same, that through death he might destroy him that had
the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them who
through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. He didn't take on Him the nature
of angels. He took the seed of Abraham. It behooved Him in all points
to be made like unto His brethren. That He might be a faithful,
a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to
God. And because He took part of flesh and blood, He's able
to comfort us in all our affliction. The reason the last Adam was
born of a virgin is that he might be the holy man. The holy man. That he might represent his people,
live the life we could not live, die the death we owed, and bring us to God, holy, perfectly
sanctified, and perfectly righteous in Him. That's why a virgin. First of all, why a virgin? Because it's written. Because
it's written. That's why it's written in the
scriptures. This is Christ fulfilling the law and the prophets. That's
what we have here. In Matthew 5.17, the Lord was
preaching His Sermon on the Mount. Think not that I've come to destroy
the law or the prophets. I've not come to destroy, but
to fulfill. He's the only one who's holy,
who could fulfill the law. He's the one of whom all the
prophets speak. He came to fulfill the law and
the prophets. He said to heaven and earth pass
one jot, or one tittle, one crossing of the T, one dotting of the
I, shall not pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. The first mention of this is
in Genesis 3. Let's go there, Genesis chapter
3, verse 16. This is after the fall. And verse 14, I'm sorry, verse
14. And the Lord God said unto the
serpent, because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all
cattle and above every beast of the field. On thy belly shalt
thou go, and thus shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.
And I will put enmity, I will, God said, I will put enmity,
hatred, between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and
her seed, her seed. It shall bruise thy head, thou
shalt bruise his heel. And I believe that next verse
there, this is why sorrow was multiplied to the woman in conception. More than just the fact that
It's a travail to bear a child, but because the devil knowing
Christ is coming through the woman, through the church, so
often in history, over and over and over, tried to kill the male
babies. Christ is the woman's seed. He's
the woman's seed. It means he was born of a virgin,
not born through the corrupt seed of a man. Therefore, unlike
his people, he's holy in the womb. See, you and me couldn't
fulfill the law because not only are we guilty in Adam, before
we were ever even conceived, we were guilty in Adam by his
transgression. But then when we were conceived
in the womb, we were sinners in the womb. So we couldn't,
there's no possible way we could fulfill the law. This is Christ
fulfilling the law of the firstborn. Go to Exodus 13. Exodus 13. Here next is 13 verse two. I
won't read the whole thing, but let's get enough of it to understand
here. Verse two, the Lord said, sanctify,
separate as holy unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth
the womb. Now that's important. Whatsoever
openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of
beast, it is mine. Look at verse 12. Thou shalt
set apart unto the Lord all that openeth the matrix, and every
firstling that cometh of a beast which thou hast, the males shall
be the lords. Look at verse 14. And it shall
be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, what is
this? That thou shalt say unto him, by strength of hand, the
Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage. And
it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that
the Lord slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the
firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast. Therefore I sacrificed
to the Lord all that opened up the matrix, being males. But
all the firstborn of my children I redeemed." The animals were
slain and offered to the Lord, but the firstborn males were
a lamb was slain in their place and they were redeemed. Now,
no sinner ever fulfilled any law of God in perfection as God
requires, and nobody, though they observed this law outwardly,
nobody in that day, in Moses' day, ever fulfilled that law.
There was never truly a firstborn son, because the wounds opened
at conception. Christ is the only one that opened
the womb at birth. He's the firstborn. He's the
firstborn. Romans 8.29 says he's the firstborn
among many brethren. Colossians 1.15 says he's the
firstborn of every creature. Colossians 1.18 said he's the
firstborn from the dead. Hebrews 12.23 says God's elect redeemed by Christ or the church
of the firstborn. Our text declares Christ as God's
firstborn son. What's the importance of that?
Go to Hebrews 3, I'll show you. Hebrews chapter 3. You know the firstborn son is
the one the father trusted the whole house to. It's his responsibility
to save the house, provide for the house, give the house an
inheritance. I'm talking about the children
of the house, his brethren. Well, Christ became our elder
brother. Hebrews 3.1 says, wherefore,
holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the
apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who
was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful
in all his house, for this man, The Lord Jesus was counted worthy
of more glory than Moses, and as much as he who hath built
the house hath more honor than the house. For every house is
built by some man, but he that built all things is God. And
Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant for
testimony, a witness of those things which were to be spoken
after, but Christ as a son over his own house. whose house are
we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope
firm unto the end. See, it's God's purpose in electing
his people and in predestinating us to be conformed to Christ.
It's his purpose that Christ be the firstborn among many brethren.
You know that from Romans 8, whom he did foreknow, then he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that
Christ might be the firstborn among many brethren. In Moses'
day, those that the Lord had sanctified in their heart, they
understood this. Our Lord said Moses saw my day,
or Abraham saw my day. They understood this. And by
sacrificing those firstborn clean animals to God, they were acknowledging
that on that day when God smoked the firstborn in Egypt, he provided
them a Passover lamb. That's how come he delivered
them. And when the spirit sanctifies us in the heart, when he sanctifies
us in the heart, makes you holy in the heart, that's when you
start looking and beholding the Lord Jesus Christ and realize,
I can't boast about any holiness in me. There's no way, no way. He's the holy one, that's what
scripture calls him, the holy one. and it's in Him and by Him
that we've been sanctified by His blood. You know, people accuse
us of confounding sanctification and justification. Hebrews 10
is pretty clear. We were sanctified by Christ's
one offering as He laid down His life for us and justified
us from all our sin before the law. It's all in Christ. It's all by Christ. Sanctification
and justification is the Lord. He is so. Well, not only was
this declared in the law of Moses, and in all the prophets, it's
the same message. It's in the law in the prophets.
Go with me to, well, you can just look back at Matthew 1.22,
and he quotes Isaiah. He's quoting Isaiah 6, Matthew
1.22. or maybe it's Isaiah 7, I think,
Matthew 1.22. But he says this, he says, this
is when an angel was announcing the birth of the Lord Jesus in
Matthew's account. He said, 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 Emmanuel, which
being interpreted as God with us. Just like Christ fulfilled
all the law, he fulfilled all the prophets. I've said this
to you before, people take that passage where he spoke on the
Sermon on the Mount, said, I didn't come to destroy the law or the
prophets, and they say, see there, the law's still in effect, you
gotta keep the law. Well, can you keep the prophets? No, he fulfilled the prophets.
Well, he fulfilled the law too. He fulfilled it all. But in our
text here in Luke 1, In verse 32 it says, he shall be great
and shall be called the son of the highest. He's the only man
like his brethren and he's God. That's why salvation's eternal.
Verse 35 says, the angel answered said to her, the Holy Ghost shall
come upon thee and the power of the highest shall overshadow
thee, therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of
thee shall be called the son of God. He is God with us, brethren. And we could stay right here
for a long time. But we see here everything written in the Old
Testament is concerning the Lord Jesus. That's what Paul said
in Romans 1. He said the gospel is concerning,
is what God promised to for by his prophets in the Holy Scripture
concerning his son, Christ Jesus. We see here God's absolutely
sovereign. He said it all those years before,
then brought it to pass. That's what we saw A little while
back, that's what distinguishes God as the true God. He declares
it before and then brings it to pass. We can learn here God's
word is sure. If God has said it, he's bringing
it to pass. We should trust everything he
speaks. And by Christ fulfilling the
law and the prophets, that declares to us he's our salvation. His
name shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from
their sin. Now secondly, let's consider
this. This is vital to salvation. Him
being born of a virgin is absolutely vital to salvation. Absolutely vital. He had to be
the holy one. He had to be holy. Every other
sinner's conceived in the womb a sinner. Every one of us. Well, from the day Adam fell,
his nature was corrupted. So, you know, when it says he
bore a son, when it talks about Seth and says he bore a son,
It doesn't say he bore a son in God's image. It says he bore
a son in Adam's image. And that was us, brethren. When
we were conceived in the womb, we were in Adam's fallen image,
corrupt and sinful. Behold, David said, I was shapen
in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. I was conceived
in sin and as I grew and was shapen in the womb, it was just
sin being shapen. We don't become sinners by sinning.
We come from the womb and we start to sin because we're sinners.
Who taught the little, who taught the little toddler, you know,
just under one year old or whatever, who taught that toddler that
when you take that pacifier out of their mouth or take something
from them, they get all red in the face and get angry? Where'd
that come from? Come from the womb. sinners. Christ was born of a woman that
he might be a man like those he came to save. And he was of
the Holy Spirit that he might be holy so he would be fit to
represent his people and fit to go to the cross and be made
sin for us. It was required. If he'd have
been a sinner like us, he couldn't even went to the cross for us.
He had had a debt to pay himself. but he's holy, he's the spotless
lamb of God. That's what that spotless lamb
and all the sacrifices typified. His thoughts, his words, his
deeds, they were without sin. He's sinless in his nature. You and me don't even really,
we don't at all know what that's like. We've never experienced
that. We will one day, Lord willing, but we don't know it now. So
he alone, he's fit, he's fit to bear the sins of his people.
You know, they would examine that lamb. They'd go from the
tip of its nose to the tip of its tail, and if they found one
hair that was off, they couldn't use that lamb. Or any blemish. If they searched that whole animal,
and he was perfect from head to hoof, and they get right to
the tail, and there's one little blemish, can't use him. Christ was made under the law.
When in the fullness of time, the fullness of the time, God
sent forth his son made of a woman, made under the law. And that
law examined him for 33 and a half years from the top of his head
to the sole of his foot, inside and out. And the law said, I
find no fault in him. He is holy. He is holy. He's righteous. And so he went
to the garden of Gethsemane and said, Father, I'll drink the
cup you've given me. And He went to that cross, made
sin for us, who knew no sin. Everywhere it speaks of Christ
being made sin, you know it means He really was made sin. Because
when it declares it, it also declares who knew no sin. Why would you make that distinction
if you didn't really mean He was made sin? You see what I'm
saying? He really was made sin for. but
himself knew no sin. But he did it that he might make
us the righteousness of God in him. And that's what he did for
everybody God gave him. He made us the righteousness
of God in him. He died that death we owe to
justice. And the law can say nothing else
to a dead man. And we came out of that grave
in him, justified, both holy and righteous in the Lord Jesus
Christ. See, righteousness must be maintained
for God to be holy. That's His chief attribute, His
holiness. He does love, He is love, but He loves in a way that's
holy. He won't clear the guilty. He must punish sin to be holy. He's a just God. Thank God He's
also a Savior, a just God and a Savior. Righteousness and peace
have kissed each other. That's right, mercy and truth
are met together in Christ, and only in Him. And the Lord's well
pleased for His righteousness sake. He's magnified the law,
He's made it honorable, both in His heart and in His deeds. He magnified the law, He made
it honorable. And by His sacrifice, it pleased
the Lord, It satisfied God's justice. It pleased the Lord
to bruise Him. Now lastly, let me declare the
good news in all this. Let me declare the good news
in all this. Christ saved His people from the curse on the
cross. That's the good news. He didn't
try. He did it. He saved His people
from the curse, from that eternal death that we would have had
to die had He not represented us. He saved his people from
the curse of the law on the cross and he made us holy in his holiness. You go home and you read Hebrews
10 very carefully. I quote it all the time because
it's, you know, the reason I dwell with that and deal with that
a lot is because this is the number one deceitful thing preachers
are preaching today. They'll preach everything we
preach right up to the point of sanctification and they turn
it back and put it in the sinner's hands. And the sinner has room
to glory then. They tell him it's partly of
God, partly of you. No, it's all of God. It's all
by the Lord Jesus. When He really does cause you
to be born again, you are made holy, but it's nothing you did. It's a new man created in His
holiness. He's the holiness of the new
man. Christ in you is the holiness of the new man. And just like
when you're conceived in your mother's womb, you are a human
being. You're not going to be more of
a human being. You'll grow up as a human being,
but you're not going to be more of a human being. And when you're
born again of God, you are holy and fit to be accepted of God
in heaven right then. Now you're going to grow in that
state of being holy, but you're not going to grow more holy.
Because if you grew more holy by something you did, you could
have room to glory, and God won't have it. But in Christ, by Christ,
we're holy. Wherefore, my brethren, you also
become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that you should
be married to another, even to him who's raised from the dead,
that we should bring forth fruit unto God. Newness of spirit. And people going around boasting
that they've kept the law. Paul said in Romans 2, thou that
makest thou boast in the law, by breaking the law, you dishonor
the law. And men will say, well, we'll
see that we're not like them. We don't break it, so we honor
it. No, Paul's saying all of us have broken it. All of us
continue to break it in our thoughts because our old man of flesh
is with us. And so if we go around making
a boast that we've kept the law, we dishonor it by breaking it. And we're dishonoring God. Paul
said, I do not frustrate the grace of God. For if righteousness
come by the law, Christ is dead in vain. That's the offense right
here before God, is if you and me can boast that we made ourselves
holy by our works under the law, we're saying there was no point
in Christ even having to die, or that he died in vain. Christ
has become of no effect unto you, whosoever you are, who are
justified by the law. You've fallen from grace. You've
left grace altogether. Oh, but that's talking about
justification. No, we're not justified by the law. We're talking
about sanctification. That's what they'll say. You
can't separate justification and sanctification. Because justification
has to be from a holy, sanctified heart. And Christ is the only
one who had a holy heart and justified his people from all
our sins. and we're holy and just in Him.
Oh, amazing grace, brethren. Go to 1 Peter 1. This is amazing
grace right here now. I hang it all right here. It's
all my baskets, all my eggs are in this basket right here. 1 Peter 1, 22. The gospel, this
good news, It's not the law that keeps God's people living to
Him and loving one another. It's this gospel. Listen right here. 1 Peter 1.22,
seeing you have purified your souls, and before this it said
it's by Christ that we believe. He came and gave us faith. But
seeing you've purified your souls, that's holiness right there.
Sanctified through faith, Christ said. Faith that's in me. You've
purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit
unto unfeigned love of the brethren. See that you love one another
with a pure heart fervently. Well, how could he say you purified
your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit? We didn't do it. Here's how it
happened. Being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever, Verse 25 says, and this is the word which
by the gospel is preached unto you. And so now, constrained
by his love, you see, I say this too all the time, motive is everything
now. If you're doing what you're doing
from a legal heart, it's not a holy heart. You're trying to
indebt God to you, trying to get a reward from God, trying
to get something more than somebody else has, that's all legal motives. But if you're doing it because
you love him, because you love Christ? There's a love in your
heart, you just want to please him and honor him? That's the
heart he's giving, that's the holy heart. But we don't offer
animals like they did in the Old Testament. What do you offer? Romans 12, one, I beseech you
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, because of these mercies
he's giving you freely, that you present your bodies a living
Sacrifice. Holy. Not to be holy, because
you are holy. Holy. Acceptable to God, which
is your reasonable service. Brethren, by the blood of Christ,
we belong to Christ. Everything we are, Christ made
in his righteousness and holiness, and we're his. Paul said, what,
know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost,
which is in you, which you have of God, and you're not your own?
You're bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your
body and in your spirit, which are God's. In your body and in
your spirit. We're not under the law, we're
under grace. Those that are led of the spirit,
they're not under the law, they're under grace. Christ has given
us this light and easy yoke. Here's the light and easy yoke,
brethren. He said, trust me, believe me. All righteousness
is your trust in Christ, believe me, and live to me. Do what you
do as unto the Lord. Whether it's your boss, remember,
do it as unto the Lord. Spouse, love them as unto the
Lord. Children, love them as unto the
Lord. Parents, love them as unto the Lord. Whatever you do, do
it as unto the Lord, like you're doing it to the Lord himself. And He's our strength that washes
our feet when we stray, so that He keeps us following Him. He keeps us believing on Him,
living to Him alone, and loving one another. That's the light
and easy yoke. It's a light and easy yoke in
what He commands you to do, and it's light and easy because He's
the strength that makes you do it. Oh, I pray today, just like that
cloud overshadowed Mary, and there was a new man created in
her. I pray the Lord would overshadow
somebody through this gospel and create a new man within them,
holy, holy, to look at Christ and find all your salvation,
everything you need in him. God said, this is my beloved
son in whom I'm well pleased, hear him. Christ said, this is
the work of God that you believe on Him whom He has sent. You
believe on Christ, life's yours. Believe on Christ and everlasting
life is yours. And for you that believe Him,
it's this good news whereby He strengthens us in the new man
to keep believing Him and to keep living unto Him and to keep
honoring Him in our life. So what are we seeing here? Why
a virgin? Well, it was necessary for Christ
to fulfill the law and the prophets, and he did. It was necessary
for him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might represent
us and be the only one God looked to. It was necessary because
me and you by nature are unholy and unrighteous, but in Christ
and by Christ, He's holy and He's righteous and He has made
His people holy and righteous in Him. I pray the Lord today
would overshadow us again that believe Him and make us believe
Him. John said, I'm writing to you that believe that you might
believe. I'm preaching to you that believe that you might believe.
And I pray the Lord to work that. Let's go to Him. Father, we thank
you for your word. We thank you for your mercy,
to your grace, for sending your son, our firstborn brother, our
elder brother, our savior, our king, our God, who saved us. Lord, we pray you reveal this
in the hearts of all your people, whether it be for the first time
or one more time. Keep us looking to Christ. Thank
you, Lord, for salvation. Full, free, and complete. In
Christ's name we pray. Amen.