Storms Creek Church 12-24-2023

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Episode Transcript

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We'd like to thank you for listeningto our program this morning. We pray
that God has used this message todraw you closer to Him. Storms Creek
Missionary Baptist Church would like to takethis opportunity to invite you to any of
its services. We have a SundaySchool which starts at nine thirty am,
Sunday Morning Worship ten fifteen, andour Sunday Evening service starts at six pm.

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We also have a Wednesday night BibleStudy that starts at seven point thirty
pm. Storms Creek Missionary Baptist Churchis also on the internet under Sermonaudio dot
com. You can go to wwwdot Sermon Audio, look for Storms Creek
Missionary Baptist Church and listen to anyof our sermons in full length audio at

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the side. Again, we'd liketo thank you for listening this morning,
and may God bless you throughout theweek. Now, all this was done

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that it might be fulfilled, whichwas spoken of the Lord by the prophet
saying, behold, a virgin shallbe with child and shall bring forth a
son, and they shall call hisname Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God
with us. Then Joseph, beingraised from sleep, did as the Angel

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of the Lord had bidden him,and he took unto him his wife,
and knew her not until she hadbrought forth her firstborn son, and he
called his name Jesus. You know, the Bible records several very amazing births.

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For example, Isaac. We knowthe story of Isaac. Isaac was
born to a barren woman, awoman who was almost one hundred years old,
way past the age that women bearchildren. Samuel was also born to
a woman who for years had triedto have a child and was unable to

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do so until God answered her prayerand gave her a son, John the
Baptist. His mother, Elizabeth,had difficulty in having children. Then God
blessed her and Zacharis with a child, a child that the Bible tells us

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was filled with the Holy spirit fromhis mother's womb, a child which Jesus
Christ said would later grow up tobe those born among women. There was
not a greater than John the Baptist. So all of these are spectacular births.
Clearly God intervened in each and everyone of these cases. You had

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women who were older, who werenot able to have children with God's help,
with God in power in them,they were able to have children,
Isaac, Samuel, and John theBaptist. But you see, these children
all had an earthly mother and anearthly father, although their births were spectacular.

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But there is one birth that surpassesall other births. There is one
birth that is not like any otherthat's ever occurred in this life, nor
ever will. And that is thebirth of Jesus Christ. Now he was
not born to an older woman whowas not able to have a child.

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No, we know. He wasborn to a very young woman, a
woman by the name of Mary.Now what makes her so unique? Well,
what makes this birth different than allother births? Well, Mary was
a virgin. Mary became pregnant withoutthe aid of a man. And so

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with the birth of this child,this child had an earthly mother, but
no earthly father. As I readhere, he was conceived by the power
of the Holy Spirit. His motherwas a virgin, He was virgin born.
Now we often sang we didn't singit this morning, but we often

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sang Silent Night this time of theyear. And the first verse of that
well known hymn goes like this silentnight, holy night, all is calm,
all is bright round. John virginmother and child. We sing that

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song, we are acknowledging our beliefin the virgin birth. We say it
in that song, and the virginbirth is essential to our Christian faith.
But unfortunately a lot of people willsing that song, they will utter those

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words, but when it comes tothe virgin birth, they either don't believe
it or they don't believe that it'sreally that important. It's one of those
non essentials. It's one of thosethings that you can believe it or you
cannot believe it. But it really, it really doesn't make a whole lot

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of difference, folks. We knowthat it does make a lot of difference,
because if Jesus wasn't born as theBible tells us in this passage,
if he wasn't born of a virgin, then he couldnt be our savior.
We have no gospel to proclaim.In fact, we have no salvation every

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single person here today. If Jesuswasn't born of a virgin, then every
one of us are still in oursins. But we know that the Bible
clearly teaches us that Jesus was virginborn, and the Bible, not other

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men, is our standard of truth. It's our absolute standard, and so
it teaches us that the virgin birthactually happened. So what I want to
do for our time this morning isI want to look at this most amazing
of all births, the virgin birthof the Lord Jesus Christ. And here

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in this passage there are four factsthat I want to bring out in regard
to the virgin birth or the birthof the king, the birth of the
King. First of all, weare going to look at the pronouncement of
the King's birth, the pronouncement,and that's found in verse eighteen, where

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we have this pronouncement. Now,the birth of Jesus Christ was on this
wise when as his mother Mary wasespoused to Joseph, before they came together,
she was found with child of theHoly Ghost. I always find it
so interesting that in Matthew's Gospel,Matthew takes seventeen verses to give us the

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human lineage of Jesus Christ. Hedescribes in those verses how God was faithful
to keep the promise that he madefirst to Abraham and then later to David,
that one would be born of theirseed, that one would become into

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this world, who would be ofthe royal line of the seed of David
and who would be the rightful Kingof Israel. He is of the family
of David, and in verses onethrough seventeen, that's what we have.
But then you get to verse eighteen. We have in this one verse the

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divine lineage of Jesus Christ. Yousee, this one who is going to
come of the family of David ismore than just a mere man. Yes,
he is of David. He isa human, fully human, but
he's also going to be the Sonof God, the one who always existed

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as God. And Matthew tells usthis in one simple verse seventeen verses the
human lineage one verse to describe hisdivine lineage. Why one verse, Well,

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as I've told you before when Ipreached on this, it's because I
believe that the Holy Spirit, ifhe tried to explain to us the divine
lineage of Jesus Christ, none ofus would be able to understand that.
He could have spent verse after verseafter verse trying to explain how it was

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possible for this one who was goingto be born to be both fully human
and fully divine God and man,and he could have tried to explain that,
and tried to explain how the HolySpirit came upon Mary and was able
to conceive in her wound. Butfolks, we wouldn't be able to understand

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that. We couldn't comprehend that ahuman birth. We can understand that,
at least we can under stand inpart because we see it all the time,
a supernatural birth. We don't understandthat. We can't comprehend that two
natures, two distinct natures, yetone man. So we don't understand.

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But you know what, we believeit by faith. We believe it because
it is recorded to us in theWord of God. Now you will notice
here in this verse, this oneverse, that it says that this child
Jesus, his mother Mary says,was espoused to Joseph. Espoused. The

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word literally means he was betrothed,and we don't use that kind of language
today, but that's what it was. He was betrothed. That means that
the contract between the two families.They did things differently back in those days,
but two families got together, theydrew up a contract to where their
son and their daughter would marry oneanother. The contract between the families has

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been signed. The bridal price hasbeen paid. They are considered to be
husband and wife, so they arebetrothed, but the marriage ceremony has not
actually taken place. They are inthis period of time, which is called

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the betrothal period. The marriage hasn'tbeen consummated yet. In fact, there
was about a year that would goby between the time that they were betrothed,
the time that the contracts were signed, and the actual marriage ceremony took
place. So when it says herethat she was espoused to Joseph, simply

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means that she was legally married tohim. Everything was set legally, but
they were not actually living together ashusband and wife. That hasn't taken place
yet, So it's during this timeperiod. Sometime during this time, we're
told that the Holy Spirit came uponher and she became pregnant. So that

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is the pronouncement of the King's birth. Secondly, I want you to notice
the problem the problem with the King'sbirth verse nineteen. Then Joseph, her
husband, being a just man andnot willing to make her a public example,
was minded to put her away privately. Joseph was her legal husband.

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But Joseph is confronted with a problem. It's not a little problem. He
has a huge problem on his hand, and that is this woman that he
is patrothed to, this woman thathe is actually legally married to. He
finds out she's pregnant and he's notthe father. He knows that, and

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so what in the world is Josephgoing to do? Try to put your
place, to put yourself in Joseph'splace. How would you respond to a
situation like that? Now we're toldhere in this verse that he was a
just man, meaning he was arighteous man. He wanted to do the

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right thing. He wants to dothe right thing, and he knows that
it's not right for him to gothrough with the marriage because he knows that
she's been unfaithful, at least asfar as he knows, she's been unfaithful.
And again, who among us wouldnot come to the same conclusion.

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I mean, she's pregnant, he'snot the father. So the other alternative,
only alternative, is she's been unfaithfulto him, at least again,
that's what he thinks. And so, in his love for her, he
doesn't want to publicly humiliate her.He loves her too much to do that,

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and he certainly doesn't want her putto death, which was the penalty
for adultery in that day and time, to be stoned to death. And
so neither one of these are options. So what in the world is Joseph
going to do? Well, We'retold in this verse that he decides he's
going to put her away, asthe Bible says privately or privately. What

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he's going to do is he's justgoing to end the marriage, give her
a bill of divorcement, and inthat way both can go on their way
and nothing else will be said.And so as he is contemplating all of
this, we're told, in versetwenty, while he thought on these things,
behold, the Angel of the Lordappeared unto him in a dream,
saying, Joseph, thou son ofDavid, fear not to take unto thee

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Mary, thy wife, for thatwhich is conceived in her is of the
Holy Ghost. So as he's thinkingabout this, somehow he must fall asleep.
And as he is asleep, we'retold that an angel appears to him
in a dream explains the entire situationunto him. The problem is solved,

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and he can go ahead, andhe can go through with the marriage,
and he can marry Mary. Now, although it seems that the problem has
been solved, we know that inthe days, months, and even years
ahead. I do believe there's stillgoing to be problems. They're going to
go along with this because I believethat they were the topic of a lot

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of dinner time conversation. There's alot of people who know full well that
she is going to have a child, and this happened before they were actually
legalized actually living together as husband andwife, and that's going to cause a
lot of problem in the days ahead. But at least as far as Joseph

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knows, he can go ahead andmarry her because she hasn't been unfaithful.
And then the third fact that Iwant to call your attention to is the
purpose of the King's birth, andthat's found in verse twenty one. And
she shall bring forth a son,and thou shalt call his name Jesus,

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for he shall save his people fromtheir sins. Now, Joseph will have
the privilege, and I do say, privilege of being the earthly fought of
this King, of the Lord JesusChrist, and of a tremendous privilege that

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would be, wouldn't it be tobe the earthly father of the King of
all kings. But Joseph is notgoing to have the privilege of actually picking
the name out for this child.No, Joseph, you're not the name
this child. This child's name hasalready been determined, even back before the

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foundation of the world. It wasdetermined that when the Son of God would
come into this world, you willcall his name Jesus, the only appropriate
name for him. And why becausethe word Jesus is the Greek form of
the Hebrew name Joshua. You knowwhat Joshua means. It means Jehovah will

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save. So that's the only fittyname for the king. Jehovah will say,
call his name Jesus because he's goingto save his people from their sins.
You see, this king is differentfrom all other kings because this king
is not coming at least not nowfor people to follow him to serve him.

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He's not coming to rule. He'scoming to save his people from their
sins. Now, if you wouldjust hold your place here, and I
want you to, if you wouldto look back to the book of Psalms,
I want you, if you wouldto look at Ps One thirty Psalm
one thirty. And we'll see thatI believe that this was talked about even

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back in the Old Testament times thebook of Psalms one thirty. And want
you to look with me at versesseven and eight says, let Israel hopeing
the Lord. For with the Lordthere is mercy, and with him is
plenteous redemption. Now notice this nextpassage or next verse. And he shall

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redeem Israel from all his iniquities.He will redeem Israel of all his sins.
And so why should Israel, whyshould they put their hope in Jehovah,
Because, as the Psalma says,because he and he alone is going
to redeem his people from their sins. And how is he going to do

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that? Well, not by themkeeping the law, because they were unable
to keep the law. Not byall the sacrifices, animal sacrifices that were
made every day at the temple,because we know that the blood of these
animals could not actually take away sin. They just covered it over for a
period of time. But animals couldn'ttake away the sins of God's people.

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No, there was only one waythat God could forgive his people of their
sins, and that is by sendinghis own son into this world, and
he would take upon himself human fleshbe born of the tribe of Judah,
of the family of David. Andthis one, who was God's son would
be the one who would be ableto redeem his people from their sins.

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And so Matthew here in chapter oneis this stating what Psalm one point thirties
had stated years ago, and thatis that God is going to redeem his
people, is going to save hispeople. That time, according to Matthew,
has now arrived, because this kingis going to be born now at

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this time of the year when giftgiving is practiced, probably most of you
here today have probably received a giftand opened a gift today, or you
have over the last several days.And we enjoy getting gifts, don't we.
Nobody said amen, so none ofyou all want any gifts. Okay,

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we enjoy getting gifts. But thegreatest gift that has ever been given
is the gift that Almighty God hasgiven to mankind. For God soul loved
the world that he gave his onlybegotten son, that whosoever believed in him
should not perish but have everlasting life. It's at that time when God's son

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took upon himself human flesh and livedin this world as one of us,
and lived a perfect life. Andthen at the appointed time he offered himself
as a sacrificial death to save hispeople from their sin. He is our

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only hope of salvation. And thisone who was virgin born, was full
of God and fully man acts Chapterfour and verse twelve. Neither is there
salvation in any other for there isno other name given among men under heaven
by which we must be saved.So we see the purpose of the King's

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birth, and that is to savehis people from their sins. And then
the fourth and last fact that Iwant you to notice here with me is
the promise of the King's birth versetwenty two. Now, all this was
done that it might be fulfilled,which was spoken of the Lord by the

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prophet, saying, behold, aversionshall be with child and shall bring forth
a son, and they shall callhis name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is
God with us. So here Matthewexplains to us that this amazing, spectacular
birth was not something that was justa mere accident. It wasn't just a

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coincidence. No, this birth wasplanned, it was predicted, it was
promised. It is a fulfillment ofbiblical prophecy. And what he does here
is he quotes from Isaiah chapter sevenand verse fourteen, and just let me
read that to you. He says, therefore, the Lord himself shall give

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you a sign. Behold, avirgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and shall call his name Emanuel.So, Matthew, there is quoting from
Isaiah chapter seven and verse fourteen.He says that a virgin is going to
bear a child, a virgin.Now, it amazes me the the links

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that people will go to to tryto deny the virgin birth of Christ.
And you will read of people whowill tell you that the word virgin there
in Isaiah seven fourteen doesn't literally meana virgin. It just is talking about
a young woman. A young womanis going to bear a child. The

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problem with that is Isaiah seven fourteensays, the Lord is going to give
you what a sign, A signsomething that is out of the ordinary,
something that doesn't happen every day,something that is unusual. A young woman

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giving birth to a child. That'snot unusual. You could probably go to
King's Daughter's hospital to day and Iguarantee you that probably sometime during this day,
a young woman will give birth toa child. You can go there
any day of the year and therewill be a young woman there who will
give birth to a child. Folks, that's not a sign. I'll tell

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you what a sign is. Asign is when a virgin gives birth to
a child. You don't see thathappen every day. In fact, you
don't ever see that happen except forone time in history, and that is
when Mary gave birth to Jesus Christ. She was truly a virgin. Now

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she was a young woman, butshe was also a virgin, and that's
how you will recognize the one who'sgoing to be the Messiah. That's one
of the signs a virgin will givebirth, and so that's one of the
proofs that Jesus is who he claimedto be. But you'll notice that also

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in Isaiah chapter seven and verse fourteen, there's another name that's mentioned that goes
a lite along with this child that'sgoing to be born. Yea, you'll
call his name Jesus because he's goingto save his people from their sins.
But you will also call him Emmanuel, which simply means God with us,

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Almighty Sovereign God is going to actuallycome to this earth, become one of
us, and live as a manin this world. My friends, I
don't know how to describe what thatmeans to us, to think that God

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would actually become a man and comeand live in this world. He didn't
send an angel, he didn't senda mere man. No, he sent
his only begotten son. His soncame into this world and took upon himself

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human flesh. Charles Wesley. Thisis a song that we did sing this
morning. Hark the herald angels sing. In verse two of this song,
it says Christ, by highest Heaven, adored Christ, the ever lasting Lord,
laid in time. Behold him comeoffspring of a virgin's womb, veiled

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in flesh, the god head Seaheld thencarnate, d t pleased as man
with men to dwell. Jesus rEmen you l So he's writing about that
amazing truth that the Son of Godtook upon himself flesh and he lived here

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in this world. Emmanuel, Godwith us. But the amazing truth for
us today is this one who camethe first time and lived among men.
You know what he's going to comea second time, and he's going to
live among us. When he returns, he's going to call us unto himself,

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and we're going to live with himfor how long for the rest of
eternity? Emmanuel God with us?And then he says in verses twenty four
and twenty five, then Moses beingraised and Moses, then Joseph, being

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raised from sleep, did as theangel the Lord had bidden him, and
took it to him his wife,and he knew her not until she had
brought forth her firstborn son, andhe called his name Jesus. The supernatural
birth of Jesus Christ was in perfectaccord with a supernatural life that he lived

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in this world. Eptic, whodenied the virgin birth was once he once
asked a fellow, another Christian.He says, if I told you that
that child over there was born withoutan earthly father, would you actually believe
me? And the Christian said,well, if he lived like Jesus Christ,

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I would you see the greatest evidenceof the virgin birth is really the
perfect sinless life that Christ lived andthe perfect sacrificial death that he died that
pays the penalty of all the sinsof his people. So today I ask

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you, have you looked to thisone as your lord and as your savior,
this one who came to save hispeople from their sins. Our only
hope of being forgiven is thrill thismorning, this virtue, this want you,
yes to the day my just theinswent my nations in the world,