As I said this morning, I'm going to pause in our studies in the Upper Room Discourse, at least for now until into the new year. And we'll come back, if you're willing, and look at the prayer of Christ in John chapter 17. But at the end of John 16, last week, we saw a text that really struck me afresh. It was verse number 28. I came forth from the Father, come into the world, and leave the world and go to the Father. And we knew at Last Lord's Day that these events really matter, that we've got to rehearse in our minds time and time again the importance of the historical events regarding Christ, His birth, His entrance into this world, His life, death, resurrection, ascension into glory. These things are familiar to so many of us. But if we are shaky or wavered on them, then our faith will not be what it should be. Understanding the events really matter. And in fact, I suggest to you that if you're struggling to hold on to your faith, then go back to the events and understand their significance. It will recalibrate you in your understanding of the gospel. With that in mind, I then, just in the past week in my own Bible readings, came to Paul's defense to Felix. In Acts chapter 24, Paul says this, And he's defending himself from the accusation that he's caused trouble even to the Jewish faith. They call it heresy. He says, no, I'm just worshiping the God of my fathers. And he continues, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets. So John 16, faith involves believing the historical events of the gospel and understanding their significance. Acts 24, Paul's faith was grounded in all things written in the law and in the prophets. And you put those together and you see that a key element of faith, the faith that saves, is believing that the events concerning Christ happen in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. You don't believe the events simply as they occur in the gospels, although again that is sufficient. But our faith in those events is reinforced and strengthened by the fact that what happens in the gospel narrative happens in fulfillment of prophecies hundreds of years earlier. And so all of this in my mind and swirling around my mind, I want to take the next few weeks to look at the passages in Matthew's gospel where certain prophecies are explicitly said to have been fulfilled. And so the word that we're going to study is this word fulfilled as you see it now in chapter 1 and the verse number 22. Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled. There are 14 references or 14 verses covering if you like 10 separate passages. There are seven Lord's Days left in this year, and we're going to look at seven of these passages. The trust will help us in many ways. Some of the areas we've covered, and I'll just mention them, move on, but we'll take some time over seven of these passages with very simple aims. As this year comes to a close, unashamedly, it is my desire to use the word of God to try to reinforce our faith, to strengthen our faith in the gospel. Again, I never assume that that's easy. And I never assume that we all find it easy to keep on trusting in the gospel. It's a good time to reinforce our faith. For others, perhaps in our gatherings, my aim is that I would lead them to repentance unto faith. Not reinforcing a faith already there, but to cause them to confess unbelief. To have their unbelief challenged. confront them with the gospel, that they would turn from unbelief to trust in Christ Jesus. Third aim is that we'd rehearse these things to others. I think one of the features as we enter into December and this season is the opportunity for us to make use of what might call common grace in the nation, that people are at least somewhat open to hear language regarding the gospel. Oh yeah, there's so much confusion, so much materialism, so much sin involved, but yet still there are sometimes opportunities that don't come other times in the year. And I suggest to you it may be a good approach to take, that you turn people's attention to verses like this and say, here's the gospel, these things have been fulfilled. These prophecies that are mentioned here, again verse 22 refers to the Lord by the prophet. Of course Isaiah is in view here. These prophecies are predictions of future events. I'm sometimes at the pains to point out that prophecy in the scriptures refers to recounting the Word of God, not necessarily predicting future events. But an aspect of Old Testament prophecy was predicting future events. wars and nations rising against Israel. You think of the Babylonian captivity or even the words in Hosea of the captivity of the Assyrians. All of these things are prophetic scriptures pointing us to future events. And so it is in these words of prophecy there are language used to predict events that are yet to come. Matthew, it is generally thought, is writing to a particular and a predominantly Jewish audience. And thus, for his reason, it makes so much sense that he'd point them to the Scriptures and show them that the Scriptures have been fulfilled in the coming of Jesus of Nazareth. So he used this phrase frequently, that it might be fulfilled. It adds to the defense, if you like, of the gospel. He's saying this, Jesus is indeed the Old Testament Messiah. And I'm going to prove that by showing you how often scripture is fulfilled in his life and ministry. That's a very strong support to your faith. But why would we study this as a Gentile congregation? We're not versed in the Old Testament scriptures in the same sense the Jewish believers were, or the Jewish people were. So what's the benefit for us? Well, it's a reminder to us again that God is sovereign. God is omniscient. He can predict exactly things will happen hundreds of years later as he knows the end from the beginning. It brings us back to the doctrine of God. He knows what is yet to come and nothing can prevent him from achieving his purposes. He's able to predict an event like the virgin birth and guarantee that the individuals concerned do exactly what's required to ensure that happens. To guard the heart of Joseph, to guard the purity of Mary, to ensure that all of these things happen in the films of time, to send angels, to shepherds, and all of these things that occur in the context, it's the sovereignty and the omniscience of God who's able to bring these things to pass. That alone is cause for us to pause in worship. Our God is a great God. No man can do this. Only God can do this. Therefore, worship Him. It's a reminder certainly to us again of God's gracious involvement in the world. He is not distant. He is involved in the orchestration of the affairs of the nations, moving all things to the glory of His name. He is a God who is involved in this world. He's a God who is faithful and reliable. He does what he says and what he says he will do exactly. We can trust his word. We also see the certainty of God's future. The first coming of Christ and the fulfillment of the prophecies is again an encouragement to remind ourselves the second coming will also occur. God has said it is so and it will happen as God has predicted. The redemption of creation, the new heavens and the earth, the damnation, the devil, his angels and all the wicked, all these things are certain. And so this overview encourages on these things that it strengthens our faith in the gospel and reminds us again of our great God. So keeping all these things in mind, that's just a general summary to the whole series. We come to the account here in Matthew chapter one. And he then, that fulfills words of prophecy. The words come in the context, particularly of comfort to troubled Joseph. Again, the engagement as we understand it in those days is much stronger than what an engagement might be in our culture. And it required a putting away of Mary, verse number 19. It required a putting away of her for what he saw as sin on her part. She was with child. He knew his own righteousness and he understandably presumed that Mary in some way was guilty of unrighteous behavior. And thus he is troubled and burdened. Oh, he loves her keenly and dearly. You see that very much in the language used here, but he is troubled in his mind and heart. And as he thinks on these things, verse 20, the angel of the Lord appears to him. But we're not told. If Mary had told him about the angel appearing unto her, that happens first. It's hard to imagine she didn't. But what it is clear is that Joseph was faced with a difficult decision. But being a godly man, he doesn't act rashly. He thinks it through. There's no sign of anger and rashness. And it is to this confused, thoughtful man that the angel appears and speaks and tells him, Mary is pure. Joseph, thy son of David, fear not to take unto thee, marry thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth the son. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. See what follows is then the explanation given to Joseph regarding the fulfillment of prophecy. But the reminder to us that the reason that Jesus conceived because of who Jesus is. His identity is the foundation of his authority and the mercy shown in his work towards sinners. His identity in turn then rests on that which is predicted in Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14. Behold a virgin shall be with child. Troubled, troubled was Joseph, settled by the Word of God. Clearly confused, not understanding all of these things, but taking God's word to be true, a very important picture of what it is to believe the gospel. But let's begin, as we look at this, the fulfillment of the predictions of virgin birth, let's look first of all at the fact that there is a liberal attack upon this truth. I should say, when I use the word liberal in a modern American context, I'm not referring to a political movement. I'm referring to a theological movement in the latter part of the 1800s into 1900s, the liberal movement against the authority of scripture. And they attacked the miraculous particularly. And these attacks were used by the devil to undermine the authority of the gospel. And it's significant that the liberal churches in the Western world have all fallen further and further into apostasy and sin. and numerically become weaker and weaker. There is no truth in a liberal church. There is no power in their gospel so-called. And we see that working out over a hundred years later. But they attacked the very core of the gospel. And what they do, because of the importance of the Lord's virgin birth, is that they set their sights firmly upon the text in Isaiah 7 verse 14. Turn back there. Isaiah 7 verse 14 is of course the text that Matthew is quoting here in his gospel. Again, I am not going to deal with the context of Isaiah 7 right now this evening. Understandably, Matthew grasped the significance and saw this being fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. Not just Matthew, but the testimony of the angel coming to Joseph. But the attack of the liberal movement was on the word virgin here. Verse 14. that the word translated virgin here is not the standard word for virgin in the Old Testament. Rather the text in their mind should be translated young woman or damsel or something of that nature. Thereby leaving open the possibility that this was not a miraculous conception but was rather a matter of ordinary procreation. And so they attacked the word. It is the word Alma. That's the word that's used here for virgin in Isaiah chapter 7 verse number 14. And do you know what happens? People hear scholars speaking about original languages and they presume they must be right. You put a PhD after your name and you began to quote various Hebrew scholars in this area and that area and people go, Oh, maybe, They know more than I do. And your ordinary believer, you're like, they find themselves shipwrecked by the so-called scholar. But there actually is a very, very simple defense of the word used here. There are at least three compelling reasons why the word used in Isaiah 7 is the correct word for virgin and not simply a young woman. See, when you compare the two words, there are two words in Hebrew, again, that could be translated with the word virgin. The one used here in Isaiah 7 is never used of a married woman or one who is clearly not a virgin. But the other word is. It's over in Joel chapter 1. Turn across to Joel chapter 1. And in Joel chapter 1, the other word, which is Bethulah, that word is used. Not just for a virgin, but also sometimes used for a woman, if you like, a bride with a husband. And so you have Joel 1 verse 8. Lament like a virgin, clothe with sackcloth for the husband of our youth. You see the word virgin in English Bible again in verse number 8. But now you have the additional, for the husband of our youth. There's a connection here between who she is and her husband, indicating again that the word, and this is not the word used in Isaiah 7. This is the other word. That's qualified by the fact that there's a husband involved here. It's also worth noting that the word in Isaiah 7 verse 14 is always used without any necessary qualification to denote her purity or pure virginity. But over in Genesis chapter 24, the word Bethulah, the dual one word, is used in Genesis 24 verse number 16 with an additional phrase. And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin neither had any man known her. So this other word, Bethulah, it requires qualification to indicate the nature of this woman's condition. That's never the case for the word used in Isaiah chapter 7. It's always used for one who's not martyred or one who's clearly a virgin. It's always used without any other qualification attached to it. And then when you look at Matthew's gospel, when Matthew takes the Hebrew of Isaiah chapter 7, and says, Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which is spoken by the Lord, or the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be a child. He takes a Greek word, which never means anything other than wanting to virgin. These arguments are very, very strong. It's a very brief overview. I'm not going to take much more time than I've done already, but it's a very brief overview, but important. Because if you talk to someone in the street, And they've been raised in a liberal church. They will not take for granted the virgin birth of Christ. You might take it for granted, but they're immediately going to suggest that you're wrong in some way. That this cannot be believed. And so we have to re-emphasize this. We have to defend it and make it very, very clear. This is a vital part of the gospel. This is not open for debates or discussion. Deny this and there is no gospel at all. You know, the liberal movement. has really sought to piecemeal remove little parts of the gospel. Don't get me wrong, the virgin birth is no little part of the gospel. But they understand that if they attack one doctrine here or there, the whole thing falls apart. I was saying, when I was living in Belfast, I had an old car that the people keep trying to steal. You know, for years, three attempted break-ins and stealing my car to the point that I saw a little lead. You mechanics will know more than I. It went from the alternator to something else, a small lead. And I was able to pull it out. I don't know where it went, but it was a short lead. I pulled it out and I put it in my pocket and brought it to my room. That one thing, the engine didn't work. The liberal, they understand. If we can disprove one doctrine of the gospel, the whole thing falls apart. It doesn't work anymore. The gospel is removed of its power by the attack of one central doctrine. I would strongly argue the virgin birth is half an engine. It's of such importance to the power of the gospel. But they understood if they could attack that doctrine, it could remove the confidence in the gospel of Christ Jesus. God defend the whole gospel, folks. Go defend these things firmly, solidly, and proclaim them to a lost world. So that's the liberal attack. Secondly, please note with me the literary assertions that emphasize this truth. And we're back in Matthew chapter one. You see this promise of God, being a promise of a God who cannot lie, Titus one, the promise is certain to be realized and fulfilled. But in writing the history of Bethlehem, The inspired apostle takes great pains to confirm that it was indeed a virgin conception and birth. Note verse 18, before they came together. Verse 20, the words of the angel, that which is conceived in her is off the Holy Ghost. Verse 23, a virgin shall be with child. Verse 25, and knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son. A multiplicity of arguments and phrases, literary assertions that emphasize the truth. That whatever you may think, if you choose to believe it or not believe it, you cannot deny that Matthew is making a point here. You may choose to reject it, but in so doing, you have to reject the language Matthew uses. Matthew's words cannot be interpreted any other way. That's the point. What he records here does not have two possible meanings. You know at times I'll come to a text in scripture and say that the good men differ on this. The interpretation of this word or this phrase is challenging. We don't have all the grasp of the original languages. There is no such difficulty here. There's no other way to explain this than Matthew is trying to convince us under inspiration The Lord Jesus was miraculously conceived. Matthew's adamant, we understand this, understand that Mary's a virgin when she conceived and when she gave birth to the Savior. There's an interesting contrast, by the way, just between the words of the angel to Joseph and those to Zacharias. In Luke chapter one, Zacharias was told, she shall bear thee a son. Look what it says in Matthew chapter one and the verse 21. It doesn't say, she shall bear thee a son. It says, she shall bring forth a son. It's a very, very important detail. Again, Matthew is taking every pains to point out that this is a miraculous conception. All right, Matthew is honest here. He doesn't seek to address and answer all the questions. He acknowledged this to be both mysterious and miraculous. It is mysterious. Again, if you're talking to people in the public square, don't pretend it's not. Don't try to give an explanation that makes sense of all this. Own the fact that it is mysterious. Virgin conceptions don't happen. They don't occur. They're not part of, if you like, the natural order of things in this God-given creation. And modern science is frustrated by that. They detest such an idea. You see, in the mind of a modern scientist, for something to have happened, it must be repeatable and then subject to analysis. If something cannot be repeated and analyzed, then it mustn't have happened. And so events that happen once baffle, confuse, and frustrate a modern scientific mind. The line is, virgin births don't happen, therefore Christ was not virgin born. That's the logic. Understandable logic of modern scientists. But when you study Matthew's account, you do see the event is shrouded in mystery. Joseph is clearly troubled and concerned. He's not sure what to make of it. Even in Luke's gospel, Mary is described as being troubled. J. C. Ryle notes the words used here, troubled, in Luke chapter 1. are very strong, they have the sense of to disturb or to agitate greatly. But when you read of Mary and Joseph, though they did not understand it all, yet they don't question the Lord. They don't doubt that he's performing exactly what he said he would do. In Mary's words, be it unto me according to thy word, Luke 1.38. Joseph demonstrates the same faith in the Lord. They shared this faith, what a wonderful thing that is. The future married couple are on the same page on this issue. What does he do? Verse number 24. He did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him and took unto him his wife. Doesn't argue, doesn't debate, doesn't engage in discussion with the angel. He simply does what he's told. He obeys. We need this heart of faith. This heart of trust. Our inability to analyze does not necessarily prove an event is false. We're simply told by Matthew that which is conceived, or by the angel, verse number 20 again, that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. There's mystery here. Even the physician Luke, who Luke gives some more details, refers to the Holy Ghost coming upon her and the power of the highest overshadowing her, but no sense of mechanism or method, a holy mystery. We've got to guard this. I like the words of Ryle, he says this, let us ever regard it with holy reverence and abstain from those unseemly and unprofitable speculations upon it in which some have unhappily indulged. Accept the mystery. Accept and acknowledge the holy mystery of the conception of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, our Lord's conception was not only mysterious, it was also miraculous. The conception of Christ was a miraculous intervention of the Almighty God. See, when you grasp who God is, when you grasp one who's all powerful, when you grasp that he spoke the word and brought the universe into being, then you see a God that is able to intervene in history. A God that does not work against the laws of nature, but at times above the laws of nature. He caused the dead to rise, the bread and the fish to multiply, the axe head to float, the water to become wine. This is a God who is capable of miraculous. As great as these other miracles are, they're dwarfed by the union of the divine nature with the human nature that occurs in the conception of Christ Jesus. So Gabriel silences all objections and says, with God, nothing shall be impossible. When you deny the virgin conception and birth of Christ, you deny the fact there's a God in heaven who's able to form such a thing. The Bible says it's the fool who says there is no God. Now, this may leave some of you Unsatisfied. You want to explain this. You don't want to stand in public square and announce a virgin birth that is mysterious and miraculous. You want more robust defense in your mind, but that desire is misplaced and unnecessary. The efforts to explain We'll never discount the miraculous. But we do not believe in the virgin conception of Christ because we understand it. Young people, please be clear here. We are not believing in the virgin conception because we grasp how it all happened or can understand the mystery. We believe it due to the evidence. The evidence is reasonable, and the evidence points to the miraculous. That's why you believe it. It's not that we take our heads off and choose to suspend our reason to believe that which is unreasonable. We believe something that is rational, that is defensible, and that the evidence points to. The evidence points to the virgin conceptions. Well, how is that even possible, pastor? We've only got Mary and Joseph here. They could have lied. They've got motive to lie. If she was guilty of some immorality, then she's got a motive to have lied. But just stop a minute or two. Do you have any, any grounds for assuming that a humble couple in poverty would concoct a story that would make them the parents of the Son of God and Messiah in Jewish scripture. That's unreasonable to even assume that, that they would make up such a story and then claim that they were the ones in whom God worked to fulfill a prophecy made hundreds of years earlier. Of all the single mothers in Israel, Mary's the one who came up with this idea, I'm going to be the one, and I'm going to pretend to be the mother of Messiah. That's unthinkable. That's not reasonable. All the more so, that 30 years after this event, the one born in Bethlehem with the angels appearing to shepherds who could testify to that event. 30 years later, the babe now grown makes blind men see, lame men walk, dead people rise, then dies and rise again the third day. The very same man of whom these parents said the Holy Ghost came upon her. Who would make up such a story? The most outlandish conspiracy theory person would not have made up that story. And the reason we have such confidence is because of the words of Matthew. All this was done that it might be fulfilled which is spoken of the Lord by the prophets saying. These events happen in fulfillment of prophecy made hundreds of years earlier. We believe this. Because the evidence of the entire narrative, not just the birth, but the subsequent events, all point to the truth that Jesus is indeed the Messiah, the Son of God. The evidence points us in that direction. We don't believe this because we understand it. We believe it because it's true. And because it's true, all of our objections don't matter. Those objections are answered by the fact there is a God in heaven. But the historical evidence points us and leads us to that being the only conclusion to understand the reason for the birth of Jesus. So you have that aspect, the literary assertions that point and dig gloriously to this wonderful truth. The thirdly and finally, and just briefly, think of the life giving assurance expressed in this truth. And here, I'm just going to close. Look at the two names that are given. I shall call his name Jesus. Verse 25, he called his name Jesus. And the second thing, verse 23, they shall call his name Emmanuel. This truth of the virgin birth is the ground for the assertion that Jesus Christ was the eternal son of God who became man. And so was and continues to be God and man and two distinct natures in one person forever, short of Catechism 21. The virgin birth is what enables the union of the divine and the human in the person of Jesus Christ. And so his name is Jesus, indicating again his humanity given to him only after his birth. He was not called Jesus before his birth. Verse 25, it was when he was born that he was called Jesus. Jesus, a new name for the Son of God, a new name given to him at his birth. But the name itself points to one who saves. It is from the Hebrew word Joshua. He shall save his people from their sins. The Lord's birth was not unusual in itself. He was born in an unusual setting, but the birth itself was natural. He was born as a man. He does not, I assert again, he does not appear to be a man. He was born from the womb of the Virgin Mary as a man with true humanity. Not an appearance, not a pretense of humanity, but real humanity. conceived in embryonic form, growing through maturity, those nine months, eventually born as an, if you like, an ordinary baby in ordinary natural ways, indicating again the humanity of the Son of God, the union of the divine with the human. One who was human yet sinless, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. but one who thereby can come as a suitable substitutionary sacrifice for sinful man. Do you want to be saved tonight? Do you want no salvation tonight? Are you struggling with the guilt of your sin? Do you feel the overwhelming weight of the fact you've broken God's law? You deserve nothing but God's wrath and condemnation. Are you burdened with guilt and conviction tonight? Then the only hope you have is go to one whose name means Savior. The only place you can find refuge from the guilt of your sin is the one whose name is Jesus. Are you here tonight and you're burdened with the power of sin in your life? You can't break free of its shackles. You want to live a good life and a life that pleases God, but you can't do it. You need to be saved. Your only hope is in Jesus. There's no other place to find such redemption and such freedom. The only hope is in one whose name means to save. Are you fearful of death? You realize the presence of sin in your life is gonna bring you to a lost eternity. You're gonna face a second death. Your only hope is in the one whose name is Jesus. He shall save his people from their sins. He is Emmanuel. He was always the eternal God, the Son of God, co-existent, co-eternal, co-equal to the Father. Now God with us, Emmanuel. God so loving the world that He gives only begotten Son. The Son willing to lay aside the glory of heaven and come and take the form of a servant. The one who's equal with God taking that form that He might die for sinners and reconcile sinners to God. I asked you the question, do you want to be saved tonight? Then go to Jesus. Do you feel estranged from God tonight? Then go to Emmanuel. You feel distant and far off. You know your sin pushes you away from God. Well, the only way to reconciliation is through Emmanuel. God with us. Son of God. Savior of sinners. Jesus Emmanuel. You see, if you attack the virgin birth, you destroy all of those gospel assurances. There is no life-giving power In a man born in a manger the life giving power comes in the babe born in the manger who is both God and man, one person, two natures, able to reconcile God to man. That's where the power comes. It's little wonder the devil used a liberal church to attack this doctrine. We must stand firm upon truth. He was God, manifest in the flesh. We trust him, we worship him, we hope in him. May God bless his word to your souls tonight. Let's pray. Eternal God and Father, we come again humbly and we've rehearsed doctrines that are very, very familiar to all of our minds. But may they come with freshness. May we be reaffirmed in our souls, realizing that indeed we do believe in that which is true. And though we find ourselves, you know, wavering and sometimes in doubts, we realize that the evidence of your word, it points us in this direction. Jesus Christ, Son of God, Messiah, Savior of sinners. Oh Lord, we pray that you'd work in each of our hearts. that we'd all have the confidence to rest our eternal souls in the safekeeping of this man, Jesus. Help us in these studies. May they be a benefit to our hearts week by week. And may we end this year triumphing in the truth that we know the savior of sinners, and his name is Jesus. O Eternal God, bless this week. Help us, O God, to live for you. May your blessing be addressed and abide upon us as we pray in Jesus' name.