The virgin birth, does it really matter?

Isaiah 7:14 (NIV)

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” [which means “God with us”].

Matthew 1:18-25 (NIV)

“This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” [which means “God with us”].

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.”

Genesis 3:15 (NIV)

“I will put enmity
    between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
    and you will strike his heel.”

Galatians 4: 4-5 (ESV)

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”

Genesis 2:15-17 (ESV)

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Salvation Is Here

Matthew 1:1-17

Verse 1

“This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah”

Jesus is…

1.      The one sent to save us from our sins. 

Matthew 1:20-21 (NLT)

“Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

2.      The one who came for the morally outcast.  

John 3:16

”God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

3.        The one who came to bless the world. 

Verse 1

"This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham”

Genesis 12:2b-3b (NIV)

“I will make your name great and you will be a blessing… and all the peoples on the earth will be blessed through you”

Galatians 3:16 (NIV)

“The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ.”

Colossians 1:16 (NIV)

“For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.

The book of Jonah

Matthew 12:40 (ESV)
“For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

Jonah 1:1-2 (ESV)
“Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah… saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”

Jonah 1:3 (ESV)

“But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.”

Jonah 1:4 (ESV)

“the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea”

Jonah 1:5 (NIV)
“Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep.”

Jonah 1:9-10 (ESV)
“I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.”

Jonah 1:11-12 (ESV) 
“What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.”

Jonah 1:15 (ESV)
“So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.”

Jonah 1:17a (ESV)
“the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah.” 

Jonah 1:17b (ESV)
“And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”

Jonah 2:6 (ESV)
“you brought up my life from the pit,
    O Lord my God.”

Jonah 2:7-9 (ESV)

“When my life was fainting away,
    I remembered the Lord,
and my prayer came to you…what I have vowed I will pay.
    Salvation belongs to the Lord!”

Jonah 2:10 (ESV)
“the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land”

Jonah 3:1-3 (ESV)
“Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh”

Jonah 3:4 (ESV)

“Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 

Jonah 3:8 (ESV)
“Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands”

Jonah 3:10 (ESV)
“When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.”

Acts 3:19-20 (ESV)
“Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord”

1 John 1:9 (NIV)
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

Jonah 4:2-4 (ESV)
“O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”

Jonah 4:8 (ESV)
“It is better for me to die than to live.”

Jonah 4:10 (NLT) 
“Then the Lord said, “You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly. But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?”

The Book of Hosea:

The holiness and heart of God.

Hosea 1:1 (ESV)

“The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.”

Hosea 4:1a (ESV)

“Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel,
    for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.”

Hosea 4:1b-3a (ESV)

“There is no faithfulness or steadfast love,
    and no knowledge of God in the land;

there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery;
they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.

Therefore the land mourns…”

Hosea 4:11 (ESV)

“whoredom, wine, and new wine,
    which take away the understanding.”

Hosea 4:12 (ESV)

“My people inquire of a piece of wood,
    and their walking staff gives them oracles.
For a spirit of whoredom has led them astray,
    and they have left their God to play the whore.”

Hosea 4:17 (ESV)

“Ephraim is joined to idols;
    leave him alone.”

Hosea 4:18 (ESV)

“When their drink is gone, they give themselves to whoring;
    their rulers dearly love shame.”

Hosea 13:2 (ESV)

"they sin more and more,
    and make for themselves metal images”

Hosea 1:2-3 (ESV)
“the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” So he went and took Gomer…and she conceived and bore him a son.”

Hosea 3:1-2 (ESV)
“Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” 2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech [3 bushel] of barley.”

Hosea 3:4 (ESV)
“For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods."

Hosea 3:5 (ESV)
“Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.”

Hosea 2:14-17 (ESV)

“I will allure her,
    and bring her into the wilderness,
    and speak tenderly to her.

And there I will give her her vineyards
    and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,
    as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.

“And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more.”

Hosea 6:1-2 (ESV)

"Come, let us return to the Lord;
    for he has torn us, that he may heal us;
    he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. 

After two days he will revive us;
    on the third day he will raise us up,
    that we may live before him.”

1 Corinthians 15:4 (ESV)
“he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures”

Ephesians 5:25 (ESV)
“Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her”

2 Corinthians 11:2 (NIV)
“I promised you to one husband, to Christ”

1 Corinthians 6:20 (NIV)
“You are not your own, for you were bought with a price”

1 Peter 1:18-19 (ESV)
"you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”

Receiving Your Restoration 

Psalm 51:16-17 (NIV)

You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
    you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart
    you, God, will not despise.

Receiving your restoration 

Psalm 51:10 (ESV)

“Create in me a pure heart, O God,
    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”

The result of our honest and specific confession before God.

1.      God re-creates our heart.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)

“…if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

2.      God reestablishes our joy.

Psalm 51:12 (ESV)

“Restore to me the joy of your salvation…”

3.      Re-experience communion with God. 

Psalm 51:12 (NIV)

“grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”

4.     Re-ignition of our calling. 

Psalm 51:13 (NIV)

“Then I will teach transgressors your ways,

so that sinners will turn back to you.”

5.      Releasing of our worship. 

Psalm 51:14-15 (NIV)

“Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,

you who are God my Savior,

and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.

Open my lips, Lord,

and my mouth will declare your praise.”

6.     Restoration of your confidence.

Psalm 51:18 (NIV)

“May it please you to prosper Zion,

 to build up the walls of Jerusalem.”

Jesus Our King and Priest

Romans 5:12 (ESV)
“…sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men…” (Anthropos - man kind, male and female)

Romans 5:15 (ESV)
“…many died through one man's trespass…”

Romans 5:16 (ESV)
"…judgment following one trespass brought condemnation…”

Romans 5:17 (ESV)
“…because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man…”

Romans 5:18 (ESV)
“…as one trespass led to condemnation for all men…”

Romans 5:19 (ESV)
“…by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners…”

Luke 24:44 (ESV)
“…everything written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

Psalm 110 (ESV)

“The LORD says to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”

The Lord sends forth from Zion
    your mighty scepter.
    Rule in the midst of your enemies!

Your people will offer themselves freely
    on the day of your power,
    in holy garments;
from the womb of the morning,
    the dew of your youth will be yours.

The Lord has sworn
    and will not change His mind,
“You are a priest forever
    after the order of Melchizedek.”

The Lord is at your right hand;
    He will shatter kings on the day of His wrath.

He will execute judgment among the nations,
    filling them with corpses;
He will shatter chiefs
    over the wide earth.

He will drink from the brook by the way;
    therefore He will lift up His head.”

Jesus our Messiah is our great King and our high priest. 

Psalm 110:1 (ESV)

“The LORD says to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”

Matthew 22:41-46 (ESV)
“Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is He?” They said to Him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls Him Lord, saying, if then David calls Him Lord, how is He his son?” And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask Him any more questions.”

Psalm 110:2 (ESV)

“The Lord sends forth from Zion
    your mighty scepter.
    Rule in the midst of your enemies!”

Psalm 110:3 (ESV)

“Your people will offer themselves freely
    on the day of your power,
    in holy garments;
from the womb of the morning,
    the dew of your youth will be yours.”

Psalm 110:4 (ESV)

“The Lord has sworn
    and will not change His mind,
“You are a priest forever
    after the order of Melchizedek.”

Psalm 110:5-7 (ESV)

“The Lord is at your right hand;
    He will shatter kings on the day of His wrath.

He will execute judgment among the nations,
    filling them with corpses;
He will shatter chiefs
    over the wide earth. 

He will drink from the brook by the way;
    therefore He will lift up His head.”

The Life God Blesses

Psalm 1:1-6 (ESV)

“Blessed is the man
    who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
    nor sits in the seat of scoffers;”

“his delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and on His law he meditates day and night.”

“He is like a tree
    planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
    and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.”

“The wicked are not so,
    but are like chaff that the wind drives away.”

“Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
    nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;”

“for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
    but the way of the wicked will perish.”

Three Reasons Why We Worship

1.      Thankfulness 

Psalms 100:4 (ESV)

“Enter His gates with thanksgiving,
    and His courts with praise!
    Give thanks to Him; bless His name!”

Psalms 118:19,20 (ESV)

“Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.” … “This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it.”

1.      Perspective 

Psalms 46:10 (ESV)

“Be still, and know that I am God.
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth!”

2.     Warfare

Psalms 68:1 (ESV) 

“God shall arise, His enemies shall be scattered;
    and those who hate Him shall flee before Him!”

Acts 13:36 (ESV)

“For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption…”

1 Chronicles 29:26-30 (ESV)

“Thus, David the son of Jesse reigned over all Israel. The time that he reigned over Israel was forty years. He reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. Then he died at a good age, full of days, riches, and honor. And Solomon his son reigned in his place. Now the acts of King David, from first to last, are written in the Chronicles of Samuel the seer, and in the Chronicles of Nathan the prophet, and in the Chronicles of Gad the seer, with accounts of all his rule and his might and of the circumstances that came upon him and upon Israel and upon all the kingdoms of the countries.”

Four Tests We Must Pass To Fulfill The Purposes of God for Our Lives. 

1.      The Arrogance Test

1 Samuel 17:32–36 (ESV)  

“And David said to Saul, “Let no man's heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.” But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.”

2.      The Abuse Test

1 Samuel 19:9-11 (ESV)

“Then a harmful spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing the lyre. And Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he eluded Saul, so that he struck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night.

1 Samuel 19:9-12 (ESV)

"Saul sent messengers to David's house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David's wife, told him, “If you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” So Michal let David down through the window, and he fled away and escaped."

3.      The Advantage Test

1 Samuel 24:16-20 (ESV)

“Is this your voice, my son David?” And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. He said to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil. And you have declared this day how you have dealt well with me, in that you did not kill me when the Lord put me into your hands. For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safe? So may the Lord reward you with good for what you have done to me this day. And now, behold, I know that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand.”

4.     The Association Test

2 Samuel 1:13-16 (NLT)

“Where are you from?” And he replied, “I am a foreigner, an Amalekite, who lives in your land.” “Why were you not afraid to kill the Lord’s anointed one?” David asked. Then David said to one of his men, “Kill him!” So the man thrust his sword into the Amalekite and killed him. “You have condemned yourself,” David said, “for you yourself confessed that you killed the Lord’s anointed one.”

1 Corinthians 15:33 (ESV)

“Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”