The Divinity of Jesus
Sermon Audio
Sermon Notes
Intro:
Hey City Awakening my name’s Louis, I’m one of the pastors here at the church, it’s great to be with you this morning. As Aaron said we have several things to celebrate today. We already celebrated parent commissioning and City Life, but we also want to celebrate the response we had from the Generosity Tree. The Generosity Tree was a series we did last month which was about growing in generosity as a church. We had two goals in that series. Our primary goal was to grow in generosity so we could grow in our relationship with Jesus, and our secondary goal was to grow in generosity so we could become self-sufficient as a new church. Those were our two goals, and as for our primary goal we had a lot of people tell us that the Generosity Tree really stretched them in their relationship with Jesus. One person said this:
“It’s always good to take an honest look at how generous we are with our time, talent, and treasures. As for me, I find that I’m all too easily impressed with my generosity. I often look at my report card with God and pat myself on the back for how good I’m doing. I’ll play the comparison game where I compare myself to others. ‘I gave my treasure and that guy didn't.’ ‘I give more joyfully than they do.’ ‘I use my time more wisely than they do.’ What a waste! There’s only one comparison that matters, and it’s the comparison of my sin stained flesh with our holy, perfect, and righteous God. Compared to that, compared to Jesus, I’m nothing. The Generosity Tree has helped me to realize that, and it’s convicted me of my own self-righteousness.”
This is just one of the many testimonies we received of hearts that were changed through the Generosity Tree, which was our primary goal. Now as for our secondary goal, which was to grow in self-sufficiency as a church, we had 9 new households give for the first time, 26 households made commitments to give to the church, and get this! Get this! In America the average giving in a new church is $10 per person per week, the average giving in an already existing church is $20 per person per week, and in our church, in City Awakening our average giving is $39 per person per week. That’s 4 times the average new church and 2 times the average existing church. Man give God praise for the generosity we’re experiencing at City Awakening!..Listen we’re only 4 months old as a church and already God’s stirring hearts to be generous and that’s something to celebrate. We’re not self-sufficient yet, we’re actually about $40,000 short of being self-sufficient, but it’s an amazing start, and want you to view this not as the ceiling, but as the floor. We don’t ever want to just meet our budget, we want to exceed it so we can plant more churches and give more to local and global missions. I mean just this past week I found out that Orlando is now ranked the 3rd worse city in America for human trafficking. We used to be the 3rd worse city in the state, but now we’re the 3rd worse in the country. It’s why I don’t want us to just meet our budget I want us to exceed it. It’s so we can tackle issues like this. So let’s keep growing City Awakening. Let’s keep growing in generosity so we can have more celebrations, do more missionally, and so we can reach people, reach the world. If you’re not currently giving, we invite you to starting giving so you can be a part of the celebrations and the mission. All the information you need to start giving is on the envelopes in your seats.
Alright let’s get into the message. Today we’re continuing a series called “Incarnation.” It’s called Incarnation, and it’s all about why God with us, is better than God above us. It’s about why God with us, is better than God above us, and as I said last week we’re not downplaying the transcendence of God. We’re not downplaying the transcendence of God, meaning we fully believe that God is holy, righteous, and transcendently set apart from us. We believe that. But if that’s all God is, if Jesus is just transcendently set apart from us, then it makes him just another advice giver who gives us advice we’ll never be able to live up to. If that’s all Jesus is, if he’s just a good advice giver then he’s no good to us because we’ll never be able to live up to the advice he gives. But he’s not just transcendently set apart from us, he’s also very immanently involved with us. It’s the beauty of the incarnation. The incarnation is where Jesus is God who put on flesh to live, die, and rise again for our sins which makes him more than an advice giver, it makes him our savior. He’s our transcendent, immanent, incarnational, savior and he’s come to give us something better than good advice, he’s come to give us himself. Why? Why would he do that? Why would he even care?...Why would the creator of all things, the creator of the heavens and the earth, the creator of the 300 sextillion planets that exist in the known universe, why would he care enough to enter into creation and die for our sins?...We’re like a bunch of tiny little ants scurrying on our mounds biting anyone who steps on us. So instead of looking at us and dying for us, he should exterminate us because of sin, but he doesn’t. Instead of ignoring us and exterminating us, he looks at us and dies for us, which is what we’re gonna talk about today. Today we’re gonna talk about the transcendence, the divinity of Jesus, and how he had every reason to say “forget you” but instead he says “I love you.” Because of his transcendence, his divinity, his holiness, he had every reason to say “forget you,” but instead he says “I love you.” So let’s turn our bibles to Matthew 1:18-25 and get into it. The title of today’s message is “The Divinity of Jesus.” He had every reason to say forget you, but instead he says I love you.
Context:
Here’s your context. As I said last week Matthew’s the author of this gospel and he was a tax collector, he was a bookkeeper, and what we hold in our hands is his bookkeeping record of Jesus. It’s his bookkeeping record of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and in ch.1 he starts things off like a bookkeeper. He starts things off with historical records, with historical facts, with the genealogy of Jesus which consists of real people, real names, that lived during a real period of time. It’s all deeply rooted in history, and what Matthew teaches us in Jesus’ genealogy is that everybody sins, everybody’s in need of a savior, and Jesus is that savior. He says it’s not a fairytale, it’s not a myth, it’s all historical. Jesus is our savior, and today we’re gonna study the part of his bookkeeping record that talks about the birth of Jesus. Check it out.
The Word:
Matthew 1:18-25 states this, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ...” Historical. Jesus was born. It’s historical. It’s not a fairytale or a myth, it's something that actually happened in history. Jesus was born, and bookkeeper Matthew records the events that took place during his birth.
Again vs. 18, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph…” Alright notice the word “betrothed.” The word betrothed is similar to what we call “engagements,” except it’s way more intense. It’s not like the bachelor or the bachelorette where you get to choose who to marry and give them a rose. Back then you didn’t get to choose, your parents chose, and as the father of a daughter I’d like to bring that one back. “Well what about your boys?” The ladies gotta get through mama bear on that one. My wife may look all sweet and innocent, but there’s two things you just don’t mess with. It’s her hibernation and her cubs. You don’t mess with her when she’s sleeping, and you don’t mess with her kids. But back then the parents chose who you would marry. Now once the decision was made, once the betrothal happened, the couple signed a contract like our marriage certificates today, and the only way to get out of it was to get a divorce. That’s how serious the engagement was back then. If you were engaged, you were pretty much considered married. It’s why in vs. 19 Matthew calls them “husband” and “wife.” It’s because they’ve already signed the contract and so legally they’re considered to be married. The only thing left was to consummate the marriage, it’s to have sex, which they couldn’t do for a year. In fact they couldn’t even live together for a year. The reason they did this was because they wanted to make sure the woman was pure, they wanted to make sure she was a virgin. If she wasn’t pregnant after a year, then finally they could live together and have sex. Mary and Joseph are in the betrothal stage. They’re engaged, they’ve signed the contract, and now they’re waiting to see if Mary’s pure.
Again vs. 18, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.” She was found to be with child “from the Holy Spirit,” and this is the first uniquely divine act I want you to notice about Jesus’ birth. It’s the virgin birth. It’s the virgin birth, it’s that he was born of a virgin by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit didn’t actually have intercourse with Mary like in Greek mythologies, instead God miraculously impregnates Mary while still keeping her a virgin, and this is where all kinds of theories come in to try and explain the virgin birth. I mean “How do we know she was really a virgin?” It’s because of the betrothal. The betrothal period meant she was a virgin. “Okay then how do we know Joseph didn’t sleep with her? I mean a year’s a long time to wait for someone who’s legally already married. So what if they dropped their boundaries, what if they caved, what if they ended up sleeping together?” No that’s not it, because Matthew carefully states she became pregnant “before they came together,” meaning before they had intercourse. “Well she must have slept with another man then.” Now that’s a myth, that’s a fairytale. Because there’s not a single historical document to back that up. There’s absolutely no historical documentation that claims she had intercourse with another man. “Then it must have been artificial insemination.” Nope, that’s not it either. They didn’t have artificial insemination back then. The first historical record of artificial insemination isn’t until 1884. Besides, one of the greatest pieces of evidence we have for the virgin birth comes from a historian by the name of Luke. Luke was a medical doctor, investigator, and a historian who lived during the life of Jesus, and he personally investigated the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus himself. He documented it all, and as medical doctor he even claims the virgin birth happened. “Well he must not have been a good historian or physician if he’d report something like that.” That’s exactly what William Ramsay said.
William Ramsay is one of greatest historians and archaeologists ever known. If you study history and archeology, you’ve probably heard of him. He was knighted by England because of his contributions to the world of scholarship, he gained 3 honorary fellowships from Oxford colleges, 9 honorary doctorates from British, Continental, and North American universities, and he was an honorary member of nearly every association devoted to archaeology and historical research. He’s one of the greatest historians and archaeologists the world’s ever known. He studied at a school in Germany that strongly opposed the historical reliability of the Bible, and Ramsay himself strongly opposed it especially Dr. Luke. He said Luke’s writings were unworthy of consideration by any true historian, and he made it his life goal to prove Luke wasn’t a reputable historian. But after a lifetime of historical and archaeological research, he said this.
“I set out to look for truth on the borderland where Greece and Asia meet, and I found it. You may press the words of Luke in a degree beyond any other historian's, and his words will stand the keenest scrutiny and the hardest treatment...Luke is a historian of the first rank…This author should be placed along with the very greatest of historians.”
William Ramsay one of the greatest historians and archaeologists ever known, at one point opposed Dr. Luke, but eventually concludes Dr. Luke is a historian of the highest rank, and that we can trust his writings. We can trust it, and just like bookkeeper Matthew, Dr. Luke reports the virgin birth happened. He reports it’s true. It was a uniquely divine act of God. Jesus was fully divine, and he had every reason to say “forget you,” but instead he says “I love you.”
Vs. 19, “And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.” He wanted to divorce her quietly, meaning he didn’t want her to be stoned. Back then if a woman was caught in adultery during a betrothal she could’ve been stoned to death, but Joseph didn’t want to do that. Instead he wanted to divorce her quietly, and I just love this part of the text. I love it because if you’re here today and you’re having a hard time believing in the virgin birth, you’re not alone. You’re not alone, you’re not the only one who had a hard time believing in the virgin birth. Joseph’s even having a hard time believing it. It’s why he wants a divorce. So if you’re a skeptic of the virgin birth you’re not the first skeptic, Joseph was. He’s the first skeptic, and I can’t blame him. I’d be skeptical too if I were him. I mean this is something that’s never been done before. It’s what makes it a miracle. It’s a miracle because it’s something that’s never been done before, we can’t explain, and science can’t repeat.
But just because science can’t repeat something doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. I mean there’s a lot of things science can’t repeat, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. For example, no matter how hard science tries, it’ll never be able to repeat the beginning stages of life on earth. It’ll never be able to recreate the exact same atmosphere, climate, and conditions it took for life to begin on earth. But just because science can’t repeat it doesn’t mean life didn’t happen. There’s an old joke that goes like this. A scientist said to God, “We don’t need you anymore. We can clone, transplant organs, and do all kinds of things that used to be considered miracles.” To which God said, “Okay, let’s see you do it. Let’s see you create a human.” The scientist accepted the challenge. So he rolls up his sleeves, bends down to pick up some dirt, and God says, “Wait a minute. Get your own dirt.”...God says, “Get your own dirt. Don’t use my materials, create your own.” Look all this to say that science can’t repeat the beginning of life and it can’t repeat the virgin birth, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t happen. Science can tell you some things, but it can’t tell you everything. And as Christians we’re not at war with science, because it can help us seek out the truth like it did for Dr. Luke and Ramsay. Dr. Luke and Ramsay used the medical and archaeological sciences to help seek out truth. So science isn’t our enemy, it’s our friend, and God’s given us the gift of science to seek out not all truth, but some truth. It can’t prove or disprove the virgin birth, but if God can create us out of the dust of the earth, then certainly He can impregnate Mary while keeping her a virgin. But Joseph was skeptical. He wants a divorce.
Again vs. 19, “And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him...” Okay there’s something you don’t see every day. It’s an angel. It’s an angel, which is the second uniquely divine act we see happening around the birth of Jesus. First it’s the virgin birth, and now it’s an angel. There’s so many uniquely divine things that are taking place around the birth of Jesus and it’s because Jesus is fully divine. He’s fully divine and he had every reason to say “forget you,” but instead he says “I love you.”
Again vs. 20, “But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us).” There’s a third uniquely divine act that’s taking place around Jesus’ birth. It’s the fulfillment of prophecy. We have the virgin birth, an angel, and now the fulfillment of prophecy. “The prophet” mentioned in the text is a reference to the prophet Isaiah who lived over 700 years before Jesus was born, and Matthew is quoting something Isaiah wrote over 700 years ago which is that the messiah, our savior would come through the virgin birth. You can read it in your very own bibles. It’s Isaiah 7:14 and it’s all historical. Again bookkeeper Matthew is pointing us to a historical fact which is that over 700 years ago Isaiah predicted that the virgin birth would happen, and it did. It’s all historically documented, and the bible consists of 100 prophecies like this. I’m not making this up. Google it. Seriously google it. Google “100 fulfilled prophecies” and you’ll see all kinds of charts on this. You’ll see charts that have what was said, when it was said, and when it was fulfilled. It’s 100 fulfilled prophecies, 100 historical confirmations, with 100% accuracy, and 60 of those prophecies are about Jesus. Isaiah’s prophecy of the virgin birth is one of those prophecies. Look it’s simple, if the 100 prophecies didn’t happen, if they’re wrong, then it means the bible isn’t true and it can’t be trusted. But if the prophecies did happen, if they’re true, then it means the bible’s true and it can be trusted. Matthew says we can trust the virgin birth happened, because Isaiah predicted it 700 years before Jesus was even born. It’s another uniquely divine act that takes place around the birth of Jesus. Jesus was fully divine, and he had every reason to say “forget you,” but instead he says “I love you.” Let’s see how skeptic Joseph responds.
Vs. 24, “When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife...” He took his wife meaning he marries Mary. Skeptic Joseph marries Mary. Why? Why would he do that?...Why would he marry her?...I mean if it it’s not true, if the angel, the prophecy, the virgin birth, if none of it’s true, then why would he marry her?... Look he’s got nothing to gain but everything to lose. He’s got nothing to gain, but everything to lose. I mean his entire reputation is on the line. Remember the betrothal was serious, and if he marries Mary, people are gonna assume they had sex which means he’s gonna be judged, shamed, outcasted, even denied work. They’re also not gonna have the storybook wedding. Mary won’t have her dad walk her down the aisle and Joseph won’t have his buddies to celebrate with. This decision will absolutely wreck Joseph’s life. So why would he marry her? Why would he risk everything to marry her when he had every legal right to divorce her? I mean he’s already out! He’s out, he’s ready to divorce her! So what changed? What changed his skeptical heart and caused him to risk everything to marry her? It’s the evidence. Like Dr. Luke and Ramsay he must have seen the evidence. He must have seen the angel, the prophecy, and all the uniquely divine things so he said, “I’m in! Despite all the hardships I’ll face I’m in! I can’t explain it and science can’t prove it, but I’m in!” Joseph was the first skeptic and the first convert. Historically he was the first skeptic of the virgin birth, but he’s also the first converted believer of the virgin birth, and that impresses me. It impresses me because he had everything to lose but nothing to gain by marrying her. He must have seen the uniquely divine acts that were taking place around Jesus’ birth. Jesus was fully divine, and he had every reason to say “forget you,” but instead he says “I love you.”
Again vs. 24, “When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not...” He “knew her not,” meaning he didn’t have sex with her. He didn’t have sex with her until after the betrothal period, until after Jesus was born.
Again vs. 25, “But he knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.” He called his name Jesus. Now when I was younger this always confused me, because vs. 21 says to call him “Jesus,” but vs. 23 says to call him “Immanuel.” So which is it? Is it Jesus or Immanuel? It’s actually both. Jesus is referred to as both. See his first name “Jesus” means God saves, the second name Immanuel means God with us. The first name “Jesus” is about what he does, the second name “Immanuel” is about who he is. The first name “Jesus” is about what he does, he saves. The second name “Immanuel” is about who he is, he’s God with us. So if we combine the two it means Jesus saves and he’s God with us, meaning he’s God who put on flesh to live, die, and rise again for our sins and Matthew’s saying it’s all true! The incarnation, Jesus being God in the flesh, it’s all true! He’s saying look at all the uniquely divine acts surrounding Jesus’ birth. You have the virginity of Mary, the angel, the prophecies, even Joseph’s changed heart which all point to the divinity of Jesus. Even Dr. Luke reports that Jesus forgives sin, creates enough food to feed 5,000 people, heals a blind man, heals a paralyzed man, heals many other sick people, and that he actually rose from the dead. There’s so many things that point to the divinity of Jesus, and Matthew’s saying it’s all true. Jesus is our savior, our Immanuel, our God who’s come to save us and he had every reason to say “forget you,” but instead he says “I love you. Because of his divinity, because of his transcendence, he had every reason to say “forget you,” but instead he says “I love you.”
The Big Idea:
Let’s get to big idea of the message. It’s that Jesus has every reason to say “forget you,” but instead he says “I love you”...Because of his transcendence, because of his divinity, he had every reason to say “forget you,” but instead he says “I love you...” and if you’re not a Christian, receive that message today. Just like Matthew, Dr. Luke, Ramsay, Joseph, and so many others turn your skepticism into faith and receive that message today. Repent of your sins, believe in the good news of the gospel which is that Jesus died for your sins, and receive the gift of your savior. If you’re already a Christian, then remember who you serve. Remember the divinity of Jesus. Remember that he loves you, he cares for you, and he can handle whatever struggles you face in life. Whatever sin, hurt, pain, worry, fear, struggle, concern you face he can handle it. I tend to forget that sometimes. I tend to get so caught up in my own worries that I tend to forget just how powerful Jesus really is. In fact he’s so powerful that a physicist did some research on the amount of power it would’ve taken Jesus to create enough food to have fed the 5,000, and he said the amount of power Jesus would’ve needed to produce that much energy, that much matter, that much food, is equivalent to using 100% of the world’s electrical power, 100% of the time, with 100% output, for 4 years straight. He said that’s how much power Jesus had to create enough food to feed the 5,000. It’s 100% of the world’s electrical power, 100% of the time, with 100% output, for 4 years straight, and Jesus did it all without breaking a sweat.
Listen you don’t serve a weak, pathetic, transcendent, impersonal God who wants nothing to do with you. You serve an amazing, all powerful, all knowing, all loving, all present God who desires to be intimately involved with you. You don’t serve an impersonal God who can care less about you, you serve a personal God who cares very much about you. You don’t serve an impersonal God who wants to exterminate you, you serve a personal God who came to die for you and he’s here City Awakening! He’s here. He’s traveled the entire cosmos to tell you he loves you and he died for you. So let’s stand and worship him. Let’s stand and celebrate him. Let’s stand and worship our King Jesus because he’s here, he’s our Immanuel, and he had every reason to say forget you! But instead he said I love you!
Testimony
“It’s always good to take an honest look at how generous we are with our time, talent, and treasures. As for me, I find that I’m all too easily impressed with my generosity. I often look at my report card with God and pat myself on the back for how good I’m doing. I’ll play the comparison game where I compare myself to others. ‘I gave my treasure and that guy didn't.’ ‘I give more joyfully than they do.’ ‘I use my time more wisely than they do.’ What a waste! There’s only one comparison that matters, and it’s the comparison of my sin stained flesh with our holy, perfect, and righteous God. Compared to that, compared to Jesus, I’m nothing. The Generosity Tree has helped me to realize that, and it’s convicted me of my own self-righteousness.”
William Ramsay
He was knighted by England because of his contributions to the world of scholarship, he gained 3 honorary fellowships from Oxford colleges, 9 honorary doctorates from British, Continental and North American universities, and he became an honorary member of nearly every association devoted to archaeology and historical research.
“I set out to look for truth on the borderland where Greece and Asia meet, and I found it. You may press the words of Luke in a degree beyond any other historian's, and his words will stand the keenest scrutiny and the hardest treatment...Luke is a historian of the first rank…This author should be placed along with the very greatest of historians.”