Just a little over 37 years ago,
I was in school. Shelby and I had been married
just a few months. I was working through a shopping
center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, selling shoes and working
with several fellows near my own age. Most of them were a
little older, but they were near my own age. The manager of the
store and I were talking during a lull one evening. He was obviously determined to poke fun, to ridicule, wanted to embarrass
me before other fellas. And after a brief exchange, he
smiled sarcastically and said with a snicker, surely you don't
believe in the virgin birth, do you? Of course, the other
fellows laughed and snickered and thought he had been brilliant
and thought that I would be just too embarrassed to say anything.
When the laughter subsided, I said, as a matter of fact, I do. I
not only believe that Jesus Christ is the virgin born incarnate
son of God, I hang all the hope of my immortal soul upon the
fact that he is. Either he is God incarnate, born
of a virgin, or I have no savior and there's no hope for any man. Shortly after that conversation,
I was transferred to another store. I don't think that had
anything to do with it, but I was transferred to another store.
Then Shelby and Faith and I after Faith was born, moved away to
West Virginia. And I never saw any of those
men again, except the store manager. Just a few years ago, Brother
Lynn Ballantyne asked me if I'd come down to Germantown, North
Carolina and preach for him. He was a fellow I'd gone to school
with and I hadn't seen him since before I left school. And I went
down there and I recognized the fellow walked in a little bit
late, sat on the back, didn't really remember exactly who it
was, but he was the first one to meet me at the door, and I
recognized the smile. He was my old store manager.
Only now it wasn't a smile of sarcasm, but a smile reflecting
the joy of faith, for the virgin-born son of God had gotten him too. And I pray that this hour he'll
get you. I want you to know him, him whom
to know is life eternal. Him who is God, my savior, that
man who was born of the Virgin Mary, the son of God who came
into this world through Mary's womb. The child born and the
son given 2,000 years ago. My text this morning will be
Isaiah chapter 7, verses 14 and 15. Judah was in a peck of trouble
and the Lord God promised a deliverer to his people. He said to Ahaz,
the king of Judah in verse 11, Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy
God. Ask it either in the depth or
in the height above. What a declaration. The Lord
God said to this godless king, Ahaz, this withering, self-serving
man. He said, ask a sign of me. Any
sign you want. I promise you deliverance is
in my hand and I will send a deliverer to you. Ask anything you will
in heaven above or in earth beneath. But Ahaz did not believe God. And he refused to ask for a sign.
And he said with an air of self-righteous indignation, I will not ask,
neither will I tempt the Lord. To that Isaiah replied in verse
14. Therefore, the Lord himself shall
give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son. and shall call his name Emmanuel.
Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the
evil and to choose the good. Now hold your hands here. We're
going to come right back, but turn to the first chapter of
Matthew. Matthew's gospel chapter one. Now we know that the deliverer
of whom the prophet here speaks was no mere man. He was not a
mere temporal deliverer from the temporal difficulties Judah
and Israel were exposed to at the time. the deliverer of whom
the prophet speaks in Isaiah 7 and again in Isaiah chapter
9 is none other than the great God our Savior Jesus Christ the
Lord and we know that because God the Holy Spirit specifically
tells us that Isaiah 7 14 is referring to that man who was
born of Mary 2,000 years ago Jesus of Nazareth look at Matthew
1 verse 18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ
was on this wise. This is how it came to pass.
When as his mother, Mary was espoused to Joseph before they
came together, they were engaged to be married. They were legally
married, but they had not yet consummated. The marriage had
not yet come together as husband and wife living in one house.
She was found with child of the Holy ghost. child formed in her
by God, the Holy Ghost, a child conceived in her womb, which
was born of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being
a just man, a good man, could have taken her head and
stoned, but he was not a cruel man. He
could have divorced her, but he was not willing to make
a public example of her and was minded to put her away privately.
Divorce her privately, be done with it. But while he thought
on these things, behold, behold, watch this. Behold, the angel of the Lord
appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David,
fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived
in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth the
Son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. for he shall save
his people from their sins. Now watch this. 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 the son and they shall call his name
Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. All right, turn back to Isaiah
chapter 7. I want to call your attention to four things clearly
set before us in verses 14 and 15. The first being the most important.
We'll spend the bulk of our time here. This is a prophecy concerning
the virgin birth of our Redeemer. the incarnation of God's darling
son in human flesh. Now, I gave up fighting Santa
Claus a long time ago, but no one has a clue what the date
of our Savior's birth was. God has hidden that from us deliberately. The idea that our Lord Jesus
came into this world in human flesh on December the 25th There's
nothing on this earth but papal tradition left over from Babylonian
tradition. And there's no possibility that
December, anywhere near December was the time he came into this
world. No possibility. But at this time of the year,
everyone's mind is occupied with the fact that he came. And for
that, I am glad. Our text describes for us a glorious
birthday. It is true. Mary's child was
born in a manger in humility and in poverty, but no one ever
had a birthday like this. His birthday was anticipated
by saints and prophets for 4,000. Folks have been looking for this
man to be born in the world for 4,000 years. Ever since God spoke
the word of promise to mother Eve back in Genesis 3 15. All
the old Testament, all the prophets and all the events of the old
Testament pointed to Emmanuel's advent. And when it came to pass,
the Lord God of heaven hung a fresh star in the sky said, here's
God. Here he is. The angelic host
came down to sing at his birth. Shepherds and wise men came to
bring presents to the prince of the kings of the earth when
he was born at Bethlehem. Our text announces a glorious
birthday. Flip over to Isaiah 9 for just
a second. It is the birth of him who is the mighty God. Oh no, God wasn't born that day. The Son of God wasn't born that
day, but the man that was born that day is himself the mighty
God. Isaiah 9 verse 6. For unto us
a child is born. As a man he was born. Unto us
a son is given. Those words are deliberate. The
prophet does not say unto us a son is born and a child is
given. He says a child is born and a
son is given. For as a child of flesh, he was
born of Mary's womb. But as God the son, he simply
came into the world through Mary's womb. And the government shall
be upon his shoulder. What government? All government.
To this end Christ both died and arose and revived that he
might be Lord both of the dead and the living. And his name
shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. The prophet's language back here
in our text speaks of a miraculous conception. Behold a virgin shall
conceive. Our Savior was conceived in the
womb of the Virgin Mary by the miraculous intervention of God
the Holy Spirit without the aid of any man, the seed of woman
who came to crush the serpent's head. When the fullness of time
was come, The Spirit of God tells us, God sent forth his son made
of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under
the law, that we might receive the adoption of children. His
holy body is that which he describes as a body specially prepared
for the work he came to do. He said in Hebrews chapter 10,
as he speaks to the Father coming into this world, I come to do
thy will, O my God, a body hast thou prepared me. He must have
a body like mine, a body like yours, a real human nature just
like yours and mine, else he could never redeem us. A body,
O Lord, have you prepared me for this work which I have come
here to do. Isaiah's prophecy speaks of our
Lord's humble life, his humble parentage, his humble way of
existence while he was in this world. Virginity was the highest
honor Mary had. Oh, she was of the line of David.
But being one of David's sons or daughters by this time meant
nothing in Israel. Just meant nothing. Mary and
Joseph were, as we would say, dirt poor. They didn't have anything. They didn't have anything. She
had no special privileges, no special power, no special position. She had no name recognition,
though she could trace her lineage without having to look it up
very far because the Jews kept very accurate records and she
could show plainly that she was of the line of David. So what? Lots of folks were. Lots of folks
were. Our Savior was born into poverty
and lived in poverty most of his life. Mother Walter and Cody and their wives,
Betty and Winner, we were talking the other day, their children
about growing their last boy, Cade's fixing to take off and
go to Texas A&M, just as his older sister and brother have
done. And we were talking about the horrible way we deal with our
children, the horrible way we deal with them. I chose my words
deliberately. our whole philosophy as a society,
and that which is promoted by educators around the world, is
that somehow anything less than a white-collar profession is
not honorable. And our sons and daughters ought
to be trained to be professional people. We want them to have
the highest-ranking positions in society. When the one man who is the perfect
man came into this world, he took his place with the poorest
of men. Oh, what an honor he put upon
the lowest class of society, as far as men are concerned.
Will we ever learn? to follow his example, and to
live by faith, content with God's providence, content with that
which God provides. Our Lord Jesus despised the froth
of this world. And we ought to. We ought to. He was born in poverty. Surely
then he will visit the poor in spirit. He was laid in a rock
manger. Surely then he will come visit
this rock hard heart of stone of mine. He humbled himself,
took on himself the form of a servant and made in the likeness of sinful
flesh. And then he humbled himself.
He stooped and stooped and stooped and stooped until he stooped
down to the very level of the lowest of men. Surely then, he
has come to be the friend of broken-hearted sinners. Isaiah's
words imply something else. They imply something about God's
sovereign election. Hold your hands here and turn
to Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1. No doubt there were many virgins
in the world in those days. But God chose just one. Just
one was selected by God as the agent through whom he would bring
his son into this world. A virgin shall conceive. Look at verse 26 of Luke chapter
1. And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God
into the city of Galilee named Nazareth. to a virgin, a spouse
to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. And the
virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her
and said, now watch this. Hail thou art highly favored. Highly favored. The Lord is with
thee. Blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was
troubled and say, what a strange reaction. The angel said, you're
highly favored. The Lord is with you among all
women. You're blessed. She was troubled
at his saying and cast in her mind what manner of salutation
this should be. And the angel said unto her,
fear not Mary. for thou hast found favor with
God. And behold, thou shalt conceive
in thy womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus.
He shall be great and shall be called the son of the highest.
And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father,
David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever. And
of his kingdom, there shall be no end. Mary, What a radiant
example she is of what God does for all his elect in this world. She was specially chosen of God. So was Bob Potts. She was highly favored of God. The very word that the apostle
Paul uses to say accepted in the beloved. That's the word.
Just like you and I, highly favored of God. Mary was visited by God. So were we. He visits us in his
grace. What is man that thou visitest
him? Mary had Christ formed Inside
her and so does every child of God at the appointed time of
love has Christ formed in him Christ in you the hope of glory
Mary was blessed of God blessed for Christ's sake People often think of Mary in
a very elevated position we have Too much of the influence of
idolatrous papist in our lives and we have the idea that somehow
Mary is the Virgin and we spell it with a capital V. No, she's
a virgin. Spell it with a little v. Just
one among many. She is a virgin who was a sinner. Her virginity implies nothing
at all about her heart's nature. It simply speaks of the purity
of our Lord and his humanity, having no contamination of sin
from a natural earthly father. Her virginity does not imply
anything at all concerning perfection or impeccability. Oh no, Mary
rejoiced in God, her Savior, who was God in her womb. just
like we rejoice in God our Savior formed in us by God's free grace. Mary rejoiced in God her Savior
just as we do. Look at verse 46 of Luke chapter
1. Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord. My spirit hath rejoiced
in God my Savior, for he hath regarded the low estate of his
handmaiden. For behold, from henceforth,
all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty
hath done to me great things, and holy is his name. And his
mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. But I saw something preparing
this message I don't believe I'd ever seen before. God's great favor upon Mary caused
her a lot of pain throughout her days, a lot of
grief. It was obviously known among
all around her that she was pregnant before she and Joseph got married.
It was obviously known. I'll give you a reason why I
say that. Our Lord Jesus, when he was preaching to the Jews,
the scribes, and the Pharisees, and exposing the corruption of
their hearts, exposing them being men and women in bondage, they
said, we'd be not born of fornication. That's exactly what they were
saying. They were saying, we're not the bastard children around
here, you are. We're not the ones who had no father around.
Here you are! And that was the reputation Mary
had and he had as long as he walked on this earth. Now, before
we move on, let me call your attention to the astonishing
wonder of this prophecy. God's promise back here in Isaiah
714 is introduced with the word, Behold. I told you at the outset,
I When I said to my store manager, I not only believe that Jesus
Christ is the virgin-born son of God, I hang all the weight
of my immortal soul upon it. Either he was born of the virgin
or I have no savior. But me hanging all the weight
of my soul on that is insignificant. Larry Criss, God Almighty, hangs
all his glory on that. He hangs all his glory on this.
The glory of God hangs the honor of his name. The God of glory
hangs the honor of his name on this fact. Behold, a virgin shall
conceive and bear a son. No mere man. I had met some foolish
men. I've met and I've done some foolish
things. But I've never met a man I thought was quite dumb enough
to make a promise like that. I'm telling you, a virgin's gonna
conceive. No mere man would think that
up. None but God himself could bring it to pass. The Lord God
not only declares a virgin shall conceive. He asserts that she
shall be a virgin when she gives birth to her child. Behold, a
virgin shall conceive and bear a son. Who but God could pull
that off? We commonly lay great stress
on the fact that Mary was a virgin when she conceived the Lord Jesus
in her womb. But that really is not the wonder. That really is not the great
profound thing here. Virgins commonly are virgins
when they conceive. Their virginity is gone as they
conceive. That's not the wonder of the
thing. The miracle is that this woman
would be a virgin when she gives birth. This is no ordinary conception. This is no ordinary birth. This
is conception without the aid of a man. Mary's virginity was
that which continued until she gave birth to the Savior. You'll
recall back in Exodus chapter 13, the Lord God gave a special
law. He gave a special command in
the law with regard to all the firstborn, whether man or beast,
clean or unclean. He said, the firstborn is mine.
Listen to this. Sanctify unto me all the firstborn,
whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both
of man and of beast, it is mine. And we read earlier, the second
chapter of Luke. One of the reasons I wanted us
to read that, because in verse 23, the spirit of God says, The
law given back here in Exodus 13, 2 was fulfilled when Christ
Jesus was brought into the temple to be circumcised. They brought
the firstborn in, their firstborn son, God's firstborn son, the
firstborn among many brethren, brought him into the temple to
be circumcised, sanctified unto the Lord because God said, sanctify
unto me all the firstborn Whatsoever openeth the womb among the children
of Israel. This law, given back in Exodus
13, was just one of many, many, many reaffirmations of God's
promise given to Eve in Genesis 3.15, when he said, the man who's
coming to save my people. The man who's coming to be the
redeemer of my people. The man who's coming to bring
my people out from under the ruin of the fall. The man who's
coming to crush the serpent's head. He's coming, the seed of
woman. And it's affirmed again and again
and again in the Old Testament Scriptures. How do you get that
from this law? Whatsoever openeth the womb. The womb is opened in conception,
Bob. It's not open to giving birth.
If the conception is ordinary and the birth is ordinary. But
this is nothing ordinary. He who is now about to come forth
from Mary's womb is the firstborn. And he opens the womb as he lifts
his hand to heaven and cries, Oh, I come to do thy will. My god Never was a womb opened
by birth Except by the birth of the God-man our Savior Never
except by him. This is God's work. It has the
stamp of God's hand upon it So this is supernatural, this is
miraculous, this is biologically impossible. How many times have
I heard that? That's a biological impossibility. Who do you think created biological
laws? God who formed the first atom
out of the dust of the earth. Now, this is, Merle, this is
where we came from. God made a mud cake and shaped
it in the form of a man and breathed on it and said, now there's a
man. That's where we came from. He just, he just gathered some
dirt together and formed it in the shape of a man and breathed
into the man's nostrils, the breath of life, and he became
a living soul. Do you reckon it'd be difficult
for him to form the last Adam in the womb of the Virgin? Of
course not. This headstone of the quarter
was cut out of the mountain without hands. What a miracle of mercy
we have here, the incomprehensible God. That one whom someone described
like this, the circle whose center is everywhere, whose circumference
is nowhere, was encircled and cooped up for nine months in
a virgin's womb. The incomprehensible God was
one who was compacted in a body in his mother's womb. Jeremiah
put it this way, just before writing about the new and everlasting
covenant, he says, the Lord hath created a new thing in the earth,
a woman. shall compass a man. And so it
came to pass. Jehovah's firstborn opened the
womb. He opened the womb of the morning.
Psalm 1d verse 3. when he stood before God as our
surety, agreeing to redeem us. He opened the womb of the virgin
when he came into this world, saying, Lo, I come to do thy
will, O my God. And three days after his death,
when he had accomplished redemption by the sacrifice of himself,
he opened the womb of the earth and came forth in resurrection
glory. Now, just briefly, look at verse
15. Isaiah uses the very suggestive,
figurative language of this verse to speak of our Savior's holy
humanity. Who is this one who is the born
of the Virgin? Who is this one whose name is
called Emmanuel? He's a man just like Ron Wood. Just like Ron Wood. Where do
you get that? Butter and honey shall he eat. Feed a baby a curds and honey.
Feed a child butter and honey. Now the word that is a very poor
translation, very poor. Translate it when, and, but,
anything but that. Unless you can figure out some
way that eating butter and honey will make you smart. Butter and honey shall he eat,
and he shall know. to refuse the evil and to choose
the good. Our Lord eating butter and honey
suggested he was born during a time of peace in Israel. Generally,
folks don't make butter and they don't gather honey when war is
raging. Eating butter and honey suggests
his real humanity. We rejoice in his deity, but
oh, how I thank God he's a man. He who redeemed me not only must
be a man, the great consolation to my soul is that the man who
is God sitting on the throne in glory is touched with the
feeling of my infirmity, knows everything I experience and feels
a part spiritually. Butter and honey may refer to
the grace that's poured into his lips for his people. Interceding
grace, saving grace, preserving grace, cleansing grace. And he shall know to refuse the
evil and to do good. This is our Redeemer. He does that which is just and
right. When he was tempted in the wilderness,
again and again, he knew to refuse the evil and do good. Even in
Gethsemane, When his soul was crushed at the anticipation of
being made sin for us, he knew what must be done. And he said,
not my will, thy will be done. Because as a covenant surety,
he had sworn himself to it before the world was, and he must keep
that which he has sworn. Third, Isaiah was inspired to
give us a very special, glorious name for our Savior. We are told
that his mother would call his name Emmanuel Now I'll give you
a challenge Would you find me somewhere in this book that his
mother called him Emmanuel? Not there Would you find me somewhere
in this book that anyone ever called him Emmanuel not in this
book But if you'll turn back to Genesis
chapter 4 I'll show you what it means I His mother shall call His name
Immanuel. He is called Jesus. His name
is called Jesus because Isaiah said His name should be called
Immanuel which by interpretation is God with us. But what does
it mean when it says His mother shall call Him Immanuel? Back in Genesis chapter 4 verse
26. And to Seth, to him also there
was born a son. And he called his name Enos.
Then something happened. Something happened. Men began
to call upon the name of the Lord. Men and women began to
worship God. Began to worship God. Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Not just
repeat the word. but whosoever shall worship him
as God shall be saved. The word call means to worship
or publish or mention with reverence or pronounce renown. That's exactly
what Mary did in Luke chapter one. She said, my soul does magnify
the Lord. She worshiped the God who was
in her belly in human flesh. as God her savior to whom she
owes everything. No, Mary is not the mother of
God. What stupidity, what blasphemy. No, no, no. She is the mother
of that man who is God. But she is not the mother of
God. She worshiped her son as God the Son, our Savior and her
Savior. Jesus is Emmanuel. We worship
Him as our God. We, like Mary, have Christ formed
in us by the power of His Spirit. And we worship him, publishing
his reverence, extolling him as Emmanuel, God with us. God
with us by incarnation to redeem. God with us by his spirit to
restore, to guide, to protect, and to guard. God in our assemblies
to bless us. God with us. Now, one more thing. There's a very cheerful sign
given in our text. The Lord God says, the Lord himself
shall give you a sign. He shall give you a sign. A sign. That's a token. A banner. An indication of something. The
Lord himself will give you a sign for good. Behold, a virgin shall
conceive. and bear a son. And this one
who comes to the womb of the virgin is Jesus, Emmanuel, God
with us. Surely God must be merciful. Surely it must be God's determination
to save sinners. Oh, how inconceivable must the
love of God be for such as we are. Herein is love, not that
we loved God, but he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Surely, surely he who gave us
his dear son will withhold from us no good thing. He despaired
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? 700 years before the Lord Jesus came
into this world The prophet Isaiah declared Therefore the Lord himself
shall give you a sign Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear
a son and shall call his name Emmanuel Beginning back in Genesis
3 15 at the dawn of Revelation shining through all the Old Testament
like a light shining more and more brightly with every new
day. Our Savior at last burst into
this world in our nature. But God had given such clear
declarations of who He would be and how He would be identified
as the Son of God that were it not for man's willful unbelief. Were it not for the depravity
of the human heart, were it not for the fact that man by his
depraved heart deludes himself with hatred for God Almighty,
it would be impossible for anyone to have missed that Jesus of
Nazareth, that one born at Bethlehem 2,000 years ago, is God the Son
incarnate. How so, brother Don? God said to Adam, The Redeemer
is going to be the woman's seed. That's the first identifying
thing. This One who comes to redeem and save. This Deliverer
spoken of throughout the Old Testament. He's not going to
come into the world by the natural process of generation. He shall
be conceived in the virgin. To Abraham. The Lord pulls together
all His promises to one man. To one man. And He says, The
Redeemer, He's going to be your seed. Abraham's seed. He's going
to be a Jewish boy. All the Jewish women, all of
them, they wanted to hold on to that birthright. He's going
to be a woman seed out of Israel. And then the Spirit of God told
Jacob that the Messiah would be of the tribe of Judah. Not
just any tribe in Israel, specifically of the tribe of Judah. He's a
priest, but a priest after the order of Melchizedek, not after
the tribe of Levi. He's a tribe of Judah. You remember in Genesis
42? In chapter 43, Judah says to
his father, let me have Benjamin, and I'll go down, but I'll be
surety for him. He says, all right, go ahead. In the preceding chapter, Brother
Bob Pontius called this my kitchen one night and passed me by. Reuben
offered to do the same thing. made the same offer, exactly
the same offer. And his daddy said, no. How come? Because our Lord's not the Lion
of the tribe of Reuben. He's the Lion of the tribe of
Judah. To Isaiah, he said he's going to be born of a virgin. To David, he said he will be
of your family and that he will be a prophet, a priest, and king
in Israel. No man ever held all three offices.
Michael was inspired of God to state specifically this one is
going to be born in Bethlehem. In Bethlehem, Africa. Right there
in that little town. This is what's going to happen.
Back in Genesis 49, he said the scepter shall not depart from
Judah until Shiloh come. That is, he's going to be born
at a low period of time in Israel's history, but Israel shall yet
be a nation when he comes forth from his mother's womb. And our
Lord told Daniel the very time when he would come to pass, at
the end of 70 weeks, told him how he would be cut off in the
midst of years. And he will be cut off to redeem
his people from the curse of the law. Emmanuel, we bless your
name. Our Savior, God and King. Our God, a man like us became
that he might mercy, mercy bring. Emmanuel, God come to save the
people of his choice. Emmanuel, By Him we're saved. Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice!