A Virgin Conception - A Virgin Birth

[0:00] By the way, the sheets that you've been given, these are annual handouts. I give them out every year. You may already have them. And if you do, just feel free to pass them on to somebody else.

[0:14] But these are among what I call my keepers forever. And I was reminded once again, as you look at the first one on the incarnation, excuse me, I've got my morning froggy voice.

[0:31] I may have shared this with you before, but if I did, it bears repetition. And besides, repetition is the mother of learning. And I speak to different groups at different times, and I don't remember who I told what.

[0:44] So if you've heard it before, that's okay. You'll hear it again. On the article entitled The Incarnation by Marvin Rosenthal, I may have mentioned that I got to meet him years ago at Word of Life up in Scroon Lake, New York.

[1:04] And he was at the time the director of Friends of Israel. And I remember him giving his testimony. And as best as I can recall, it went something like this. Marv Rosenthal was about 17, 16, 17 years old.

[1:18] And he ran the cash register at the family delicatessen that was a Jewish delicatessen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

[1:30] And one day, a little lady came by, a little spinster lady, who was regarded as a home missionary in the Philadelphia area.

[1:40] And she would go around and distribute tracts and literature and stuff like that. And she was a regular customer at the Rosenthal restaurant. And as she went out one day and came up to the cash register to pay her check, she said to Marv Rosenthal, she paid the check and turned and started to walk away.

[1:59] And then she stopped and turned back. And she said to Marvin, young man, I want you to know that I'm praying for you. And he said, you're praying for me?

[2:13] Why are you praying for me? And she said, I'm praying that you might be saved. And he said, saved? Lady, do I look like I'm drowning?

[2:24] And he said, the only thing I want to be saved from is nuts like you. And she turned and walked away.

[2:36] And Marv Rosenthal went about his cash register business. And a couple of years later, he joined the Marines. And somewhere along the line, he came into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

[2:52] And it's never the same. And one day, he met Victor Buxbosin. Name probably doesn't mean a thing to you. But Victor Buxbosin was Jewish.

[3:04] And he too had come to faith in Jesus Christ while living in Poland. And he and his family made their exit from Europe just before Hitler started the Holocaust.

[3:19] And when he came to the United States, he had a great burden for his fellow Jewish people who did not know Jesus as their Savior. And he started an organization called Friends of Israel.

[3:34] And it has, since the 1930s, been a stellar Christian Hebrew organization that has had a tremendous impact upon the Jewish population.

[3:46] They have a wonderful relationship with the Jews in Israel. And they are given considerable freedom for the preaching of the gospel. And it's a remarkable relationship that they have.

[3:58] And Mark Rosenthal went to be with the Lord just a few months ago. He's the same age. He was the same age as me. And now he knows more about what he was talking about than he ever did before.

[4:13] That's for sure. So the article on the Incarnation is a contribution that he made during his ministry at Friends of Israel. And it's a very scholarly thing.

[4:24] You'll appreciate it very much. And the other, on the Jesus claims to be God, etc., is taken from Evidence that Demands a Verdict that was written by Josh McDowell.

[4:37] And although it's difficult for me to believe it, it's true. Just a couple of years ago, Evidence that Demands a Verdict came through, and is still in publication, by the way.

[4:48] It just celebrated its 50th anniversary from its original time of publication. So that will give you a little bit of insight about the handouts that you've got.

[4:59] And as I've said, these I hope people will keep forever because the content is so vital and so informative. You will really appreciate it more as you read over it.

[5:11] Today we are going to deal with the question that was submitted out of many that you turned in. And this particular one, I specially reserved for today because of its being Christmas-oriented.

[5:31] And the question is regarding Luke chapter 1. So if you would turn to it, please. We will look at Luke chapter 1 and will also be in the Gospel of Matthew as well.

[5:43] And the question was this. It has to do with Mary's Magnificat. And that is a name that is given to Mary's speech.

[5:56] Upon hearing the announcement that the angel Gabriel delivered to Mary, we're going to look at what her response was. And it is called the Magnificat, which is another way of saying the magnificent response to the message that the angel gave her.

[6:20] And the question that was submitted was, how could a woman in those days compose such a praise of God?

[6:30] Well, women were not educated then, but it seems as though she was. Well, that is a very good question.

[6:42] And it is true that in biblical days, women were not generally educated, although there were some exceptions. But by and large, education was resolved for the males.

[6:55] And in the Jewish community in particular, the greatest need for education was in being able to read the Torah, the Jewish Old Testament.

[7:07] And that was considered, of course, a sublime thing to be able to read the Hebrew language. And it was something that was generally afforded only to the males.

[7:17] And ordinarily, the female was considered uneducated and did not have the same need for education. That the husband did, because she was usually the keeper at home, the bearer of children and so on.

[7:32] And she got her education growing up as a girl in her mother's kitchen, and domestication and everything that went with it. So it was more of a practical necessity than it was an exclusion for any nefarious means.

[7:48] And yet, we do have that record that is given here in Luke's Gospel. So you've got to remember that what is written is written under the inspiration of the Spirit of God.

[8:01] And men and women were moved by the Spirit of God as they were sustained in order to write what they wrote. And that is why we refer to the Bible as inspired.

[8:13] It is inspired of God. The message that begins is in verse 26. It is in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth.

[8:29] To a virgin. And we do not know how old Mary was. It is entirely possible she could have been as young as 15 or 16 or possibly 18 or 20, somewhere in that area.

[8:45] But the important thing is that she is a virgin. And we are told her name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her and said, Hail, greetings, thou that art highly favored.

[9:02] The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying.

[9:13] Well, no doubt. Because angels in the scriptures have a record of appearing to people out of nowhere. You never see them coming.

[9:25] They are not walking up a path. They are not knocking on the door. They are just all of a sudden, boom, right there in front of you, out of nowhere. And she was rightly disturbed and afraid.

[9:38] And we will see that the same thing will happen later to Joseph, her husband. When she saw him, she was troubled at his saying and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.

[9:55] First of all, she is scared, probably trembling. And then when she calms down a little bit and begins to realize that whatever or whoever this is, he's not there to harm her.

[10:10] But she is dumbstruck by what the angel says. And she is asking herself, what could he possibly be talking about?

[10:21] What does he mean? What is this that he is saying? And the angel said, fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God.

[10:35] And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son and shalt call his name Jesus.

[10:48] He shall be great and shall be called the son of the highest. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David.

[11:03] And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom there shall be no end.

[11:15] Now, as Mary is hearing these words, first of all, she hasn't gotten over the appearance of this angel. She's stunned with that.

[11:26] And now she's trying to process what this strange person is telling her. And she is completely beside herself because he is saying that she is going to be the mother of the Messiah.

[11:46] And Mary knows one thing for sure. She knows how babies are made. And she knows that she has never been involved in any kind of a situation that could produce a baby.

[12:03] So she is completely perplexed about what he is saying. And she responds by saying, How shall this be?

[12:16] Seeing I know not a man. Now that expression, know not a man, doesn't mean that she doesn't know any men. It is a curious expression that is used in the King James.

[12:29] And the impression that is given and what is communicated is she is saying, I do not have an intimate or have not had an intimate physical relationship with a man.

[12:43] So I don't know what in the world you're talking about. I don't know how anything like that can happen. They didn't know much about genetics in those days. But they knew that.

[12:54] And they knew what was required in order to produce an offspring. And the angel said, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee. And the power of the highest shall overshadow thee.

[13:11] Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

[13:22] Well, now we've got a problem. Mary is going to deliver the Messiah, the Son of God.

[13:37] But Mary is not going to be impregnated by Joseph or by anyone else. Except no other human.

[13:50] The angel will go on to explain, That holy thing that shall be born of thee is from God. And this is a very, very important point.

[14:03] And I hope you pick up on it and realize it forever. Mary, the Virgin Mary, Mary was not the biological mother of Jesus.

[14:16] Okay? She was a surrogate. It will be her body that will receive in her womb the deposit from God himself into that womb that will begin growing and mature and will come into probably a nine-month period whereby he will be delivered as are all other babies.

[14:46] It's very important to understand, Mary was not the biological mother of Jesus. And it's commonly believed that she was.

[14:59] Matter of fact, and I'll explain this maybe a little bit later as we go on, but the Roman Catholic Church had a real problem with this. And the problem is this. If Mary were the biological mother, then Mary's egg that is to be fertilized is going to be a normal human egg.

[15:29] And, of necessity, it will be contaminated. Got that? The sin principle that none of us understand, but I do trust we all appreciate, the sin principle is communicated from generation to generation, and it began with Adam and Eve.

[15:53] And that change that took effect in them, that actually altered their DNA in some way we don't understand, brought them into a new sphere of being, and that is they became morally, spiritually contaminated, and that affected their progeny.

[16:12] And all the progeny that came after them. So that we've got the entirety of the human race, I mean the entirety of the human race, under the curse of Adam.

[16:24] And the evidence of that is, it is appointed and demand once to die. That is proof positive that we are all under that curse. We are all under a sentence of death, physical death.

[16:37] And the only way that that could be bypassed would be for the seed that is going to be placed in the womb of Mary be uncontaminated, therefore it could not have come not only from Joseph, it could have come from any other human source, it had to come from God.

[17:04] And because that seed was from God, it was pure and uncontaminated. Mary was not the biological mother, she was the carrier that is going to produce the Messiah.

[17:20] It will be in her womb that the implanted egg will grow and develop into what will be baby Jesus when he's born nine months of age.

[17:33] And that's a very important concept. And the difficulty that our Roman Catholic friends had with this and the Vatican had with this is how are we going to get Jesus being immaculately conceived if Mary was an ordinary woman who was herself under the curse, how can that be prevented from being passed on to Christ?

[18:02] Then he's going to be born under that same difficulty. So, it wasn't until, I don't know how long they struggled with this, but it's a real problem.

[18:15] And it wasn't until the 1800s, and guys, 1800s is not very long ago when you're talking about human history, just a couple hundred years, the Vatican came out with a special papal bull or a decree that announced the problem is solved.

[18:36] Guess what? Mary was immaculately conceived herself. Mary was conceived from her mother in an immaculate way so that she was not contaminated by sin.

[18:56] Therefore, she could be the biological mother of Jesus because she did not have a contaminated womb and therefore the baby Jesus could be born without sin.

[19:10] So, unfortunately, they did not realize that they had created another problem because how then are you going to get Mary to be born immaculate?

[19:21] How can Mary be an immaculate birth from her mother unless her mother was immaculate? Where does this thing end?

[19:32] I mean, it becomes a real problem, you know? So, that was, and when they passed that, like I said, it was in the 1800s when they passed that, that Mary was immaculately conceived, and they called that the Immaculate Conception, not only of Jesus but of Mary as well, and then, to add to it, later they also passed a papal decree that enabled Mary to engage in bodily ascension whereby she went to heaven without dying, and that is the Catholic tradition, and it still exists to this day.

[20:14] It's part of the Roman Catholic dogma, and we see some real medical, not psychological, but physical problems involved with that, but that's the way it stands anyway.

[20:26] So, let us go on, if we may, and we'll take your questions a little later. The text says that the holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God, and behold, thy cousin Elizabeth, this is the wife of Zacharias who's going to bear John the Baptist, and John the Baptist and Jesus will be second cousins because she is the first cousin here, and the text goes on to say that your cousin Elizabeth, she has conceived a son in her old age.

[21:00] This is the sixth month with her who was also barren, for with God nothing shall be impossible. So, here we've got two miracles, one by Mary, who is going to bear a child without ever having had physical relations with a male, and we've got another situation whereby Elizabeth and her husband, Zacharias, are over the hill.

[21:29] They're both way past the age of having children, and yet there is a miracle that is provided for her as well, and it's a beautiful thing.

[21:39] Now, if we may, let's go back to Matthew's Gospel. Matthew chapter 1.

[21:50] Matthew chapter 1 and verse 18. Now, the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise, when as his mother, Mary, was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

[22:20] Mary and Joseph were betrothed. They were engaged. We would call it an engagement. But you've got to understand that things were entirely different under the Jewish community and society 2,000 years ago than what they are to us today.

[22:38] And the scripture is going to refer to Joseph as being Mary's husband. But how could he be her husband if they hadn't come together?

[22:53] And the distinction is explained this way. And this, by the way, is available if you want to look up some of the records of Jewish customs and cultures, etc. it's not difficult to find.

[23:06] In the Jewish economy of 2,000 years ago, virtually all the marriages were arranged by parents from both sides. Usually, those who were going to be married more often than not were late-aged teenagers, somewhere between 17 and 20.

[23:28] And both were arranged by mutual parents and sometimes from another village nearby or something or sometimes a distant relative so that there wouldn't be a genetic problem.

[23:39] They had to be distant enough. But at any rate, the marriages were almost always arranged. And the young people who were actually getting married had an entirely different view of marriage than what we do today.

[23:52] Today, we say, well, most any boy or girl today who's thinking about getting married would rebel at the idea of mom and dad choosing my mate for me.

[24:08] That's crazy. I want to choose myself. So, we do. And our divorce rate stinks. Sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't be better if we went back to that first century thing and let the parents...

[24:25] You know why? Because parents have a maturity about them and understanding about them that young people don't have. You know what young people do have? They have raging hormones.

[24:39] And that's okay because they're supposed to have raging hormones. And they are to be satisfied in marriage. And very often, very often, when parents today...

[24:51] I'm talking about here in the United States. When parents are not all that excited about the mate that their child has chosen to marry, very often, it's for good reason.

[25:06] Because the parents can see things that this young person with the raging hormones and starstruck can't see. But we won't go there. We'll just go back to the Bible.

[25:17] Okay? And the text tells us that in verse 19, when the text says, Mary was a spouse to Joseph.

[25:28] Guys, that was the... We call that the engagement period. And that sealed the deal right there. And usually, that was a year before they actually came together in a wedding ceremony.

[25:44] And the way this would happen, and if you saw... If you saw Fiddler on the Roof, there's some semblance of that in there. Pick up on that about the arranged marriages and so on. But what would happen is when the parents make the arrangements between the couple for their marriage, they make a public announcement, and the couple then are officially engaged.

[26:08] Or in other words, is betrothed. But they are going to live separately in their respective homes with their parents for a whole year.

[26:20] And at the end of that year... And by the way, during that year, they are officially husband and wife. And this is why the text says...

[26:33] This is why the text says that Mary was Joseph's wife, even though they had not consummated the marriage.

[26:44] So, when they have that marriage celebration, and the wedding actually takes place under the canopy and everything with the rabbi, and then...

[26:54] then the couple is dismissed from the wedding party, and everybody else is gathered around having a banquet, having a big feast, and drinking the wine and everything.

[27:06] And after the wedding ceremony presented over by the rabbi, he dismisses them. The couple go into a nearby tent, no further than from here to your car in the parking lot out there.

[27:21] And they consummate the marriage. Right then and there. And often is the case that when the marriage has been consummated, the bridegroom pulls out a cloth.

[27:43] It was the cloth that was placed under her when they engaged in sex. and the cloth caught the blood that came from the severing of her hymen inside, which is an indication that, indeed, she was a virgin.

[28:05] And it was not unusual for the groom, after the relationship is committed, concluded, for the groom to come out with the cloth and dangle it in front of everybody, the blood-splattered cloth.

[28:19] And everybody cheers. Yay! He got a virgin! You know, wonderful! You know, that was the proof of it. Now, I'll tell you guys, custom is a funny thing, isn't it?

[28:33] I mean, and you know, it would be a great celebration, you know, because this was the way it was supposed to be. And don't, don't ask me what happened if there was no blood.

[28:46] I don't know. I don't know what they did in a case like that. Anyway, let us go on. Joseph, in verse 20, verse 19, says, he was minded to put her away privately.

[28:58] That means he was going to secure a divorce on the sly. And the reason he was is because during these months where she was carrying the baby Jesus, I assume probably for nine months, Mary began showing.

[29:21] Now, they had loose-fitted clothing that they wore in those days, so it would cover up quite a bit for quite a while, but it wouldn't be long until it be kind of obvious, and guess how the rumors are going to fly in a small community.

[29:38] Have you heard? Have you heard? Mary said, no kidding. And the guy would sidle up to Joseph and say, Joseph, you sly old dog. You know, you, and Joseph said, what, what?

[29:53] And he has to hear about this, you know. Guys are guys, and Joseph, Joseph goes to Mary and says, Mary, you won't believe what I've been hearing.

[30:08] Mary. Well, Mary knows full well what's going on. And, uh, he says, uh, I'm, I'm making arrangements for us to have a divorce, and she says, Joseph, let me tell you what happened.

[30:28] One night, an angel appeared to me, and Joseph is thinking, what? An angel appeared to me and told me that I was going to be the mother of the Messiah and that God himself was going to impregnate me and I would give birth to Jesus, the son of God, who is to be the Messiah, and Joseph is saying, Mary, why don't you just tell me the truth, who was it?

[31:05] You know, I mean, put yourself in his place. You're going to believe that? What a, what a story, you know? And, he's understandably upset and confused, so he's going to put her away.

[31:20] And verse 20 says, while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto Joseph in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost, and she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus.

[31:55] This is an Old Testament or New Testament word for the Old Testament word Joshua, and it's actually Yahoshua.

[32:06] There is a, there is no, there is no J in the Hebrew language. They use a Y, and it'd be Yahoshua, and Joseph, by the way, starts, starts with a Y as well.

[32:20] For, thou shalt call his name Jesus. The word Jesus, Yahoshua, means Savior. Literally what it means, Savior. And the reason he's given the name Jesus is because he will save his people from their sins.

[32:36] Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet Isaiah. Behold, a virgin shall be with child. This is Isaiah 7, 14. Shall bring forth a son, shall call his name Emmanuel, which literally means God with us, or God's presence.

[32:56] Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and he took unto him his wife, and knew her not. That is, he did not have relations with her until she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus.

[33:17] Now, again, our Roman Catholic friends have come to a different conclusion here. We are of the opinion that Jesus had brothers and sisters, but they were all half-brothers and half-sisters, and that there's no reason to believe that Joseph could not have had children before he was married to Mary.

[33:43] We don't know that, but we know that Joseph had other children, and we don't know if they were from Mary later on, but again, our Roman Catholic friends, in order to keep the virginity of Mary perpetual, they refer to it as the perpetual virginity of Mary, which means that Jesus was the only child born of Mary, Mary, that all of the brothers and sisters were born of Joseph's previous wife, who probably had passed away, and that he was marrying Mary as his second wife.

[34:26] We don't know that for sure, and the scriptures do not spell it out, but so far as we can determine, and so far as doctrine, theology, et cetera, is concerned, there would have been no reason at all why Mary could not have gone on with Joseph and had other children, and they would have simply not been born without sin, they would have been born just natural birth, it would have been Mary's egg and the sperm from Joseph, and they would have had children of that relationship, and they would have been half brothers and half sisters of Jesus.

[35:03] So that is, in my estimation, the better explanation, and you don't have to have the perpetual virginity of Mary because the scriptures do not allow for that, it has to be dogma that comes from the church to make that assertion, and fellas, you need to understand that in Roman Catholic theology, there is a two-fold source of authority, not just one.

[35:32] For Protestants, our sole authority is the Bible, but for Roman Catholics, their sole authority is two-fold, it is the Bible and tradition, and they are of equal authority.

[35:50] So whatever the Bible does not allow for in what it records, tradition does. And the tradition is established by the decrees that come from the magisterium, which is comprised of by the pope who heads the magisterium, and all of the bishops under him, they vote on these things, and then however the vote goes, that is what is pronounced, and it is considered to be from God himself, because you must understand that the pope is the vicar of Christ, and that means he has the same authority as Jesus Christ does, and it is just the same as Jesus Christ being here in person issuing orders when the pope issues them, because as the pope speaks, God speaks, as God speaks, the pope speaks, and that's where they get their authority, and in order to make the system work that way, that's the way it has to be, and that's what they have decided on.

[36:52] Now of course Protestants have great difficulty with that, but it satisfies the Roman Catholics, and these positions, by the way, I'm convinced are held in good faith, and I don't think anybody is deliberately trying to deceive or trick anybody, but they're just desperate looking for answers, and this is what they come up with, so let's go on, if we may.

[37:15] She shall bring forth a son, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins, and Joseph then, verse 24, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife, and knew her not till, and I think there the text seems to indicate that Joseph did not have physical relations with Mary until after Jesus was born, then there is no reason to deny them ordinary, customary, sexual relations afterwards, was born, it would simply mean if Joseph wasn't previously married, and his wife passed away, it would simply mean that Jesus was the eldest of the children of Mary, and everyone considered Mary as being the mother of Jesus, and so on, but Mary, of course, from the get-go, even from the time of conception,

[38:18] Mary was fully aware that her son that she was going to bear is going to be completely different from every other human being ever born, and this, guys, has got to be, you see, this is the methodology that God had to take, and I use that term had to take, in order to provide a sinless sacrifice for the sins of us sinners.

[38:55] Jesus, had he been born, like anybody else, he would have been not necessarily contaminated with that sin factor, and he would not have been eligible to pay the penalty for our sin, because he would have had sin of his own, that he was born with, and it was in this way that God simply bypassed the normal procreation and provided the seed directly from heaven, implanted in the womb of Mary, and there was where Jesus grew and was born, it was an immaculate conception, and it was an immaculate delivery of that child, he was the first, there's no reason to say that others born after that would not have been born in the normal way.

[39:42] So, any questions or comments? Anybody? What, Joe? Dave, Dan, and then Joe, what? I'm just going to comment earlier, I don't think you can imagine the ridicule Mary was exposed to when she was walking around showing she was expecting, I mean, there's not much that I have read about her or learned about her, but obviously in that particular culture, she had to put up with a lot of it.

[40:11] Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean, these people were, hey, guys, don't take any of these Bible people and put them on a pedestal except for one, and that's the Lord Jesus.

[40:24] But everybody else, whoever it was, whether it's Moses or David or whoever, they're all spotted with the flesh like we are. They're all normal human beings.

[40:36] They were just born in a strategic place at a strategic time, but they were not supernatural people. They were ordinary, everyday people just like us, born of the same flesh.

[40:47] We're all cut from the same bowl of cloth, and we are all contaminated with the sin factor, and the best evidence of that is the fact that you're going to die. We're all going to die.

[40:59] We're all under a sentence of death because of that sin factor, but we were not born to die. We were born to live. Our original parents were born to live, and this whole concept of death, resurrection, and everything, is like an add-on, if you will.

[41:17] So it's a wonderfully dramatic story. The whole Bible is a theme of redemption. It's creative, creation, think of it this way, creation, ruination, whereby the creation is ruined, marred by sin, and then the solution is redemption.

[41:42] redemption. So you've got creation, ruination, and then redemption. And we are redeemed. But we are not fully redeemed.

[41:55] We're only partly redeemed. Our bodies have not been redeemed. The time is coming when our physical body will be fashioned like unto the body of Jesus Christ.

[42:08] Philippians chapter three. This is called our body of humiliation. It's called our body of weakness because it's susceptible to disease and to death. But the time is coming when these bodies will be fashioned like unto the body that Jesus had when he came out of that tomb.

[42:27] And we're never going to die again, guys. We are destined for eternity and a body that will not be subject to weakness and death and decay and everything else like these bodies are.

[42:39] And this is why I say, and Romans 8 makes it quite clear, guys, that even though our redemption is fully paid for, when Jesus said it is finished, it was finished, when our redemption was fully paid for, it has not been fully applied.

[42:59] And this is what the burden of Romans chapter 8 is, that when the time comes that these bodies are going to be changed.

[43:11] Let's go to that Romans 8 for just a moment. I hadn't planned to, but I think it's important that you see that and understand the Romans chapter 8.

[43:30] Okay, let's see. let's begin with verse, let's begin with verse 22, well, verse 21, well, verse 20 is good too.

[43:45] So, verse 20, the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who has subjected the same in hope, and that word is who has subjected the same in confidence, assurance, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption.

[44:08] That's what we're living in right now. We're all under bondage of corruption. That is, these physical bodies, delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

[44:25] for we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. Somebody observed, it says, even the babbling brook babbles in a minor key.

[44:42] All of creation is upset and disturbed. For we know the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.

[44:53] And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit. What's that? That's the Spirit of God.

[45:06] We have the Spirit of God dwelling in us. That's called the first fruits of the Spirit. The first fruits, when a crop, when a crop is planted, there is always some fruit that ripens earlier than other fruit, and it's called the first fruits, and it's ready for picking.

[45:28] And what the first fruits demonstrates is that there's a whole harvest coming after the first fruits, because the first fruits is just the beginning. So guys, when you receive Jesus Christ as your Savior, the Spirit of God quickened your human spirit, spirit, and made you spiritually alive on the inside, it didn't change the body.

[45:54] The body remains just as it was. The body was not affected. If you were born with one arm and one leg, you're not going to get a new one when you were born.

[46:07] You're not going to have a miracle when you came to faith in Christ. You didn't get all of your physical problems healed. If you had diabetes when you were saved, you got diabetes after you were saved, the body wasn't changed at all, but you've got the down payment.

[46:22] That's the first fruits, the Spirit of God dwelling in you. And he goes on to say, even we ourselves groan within ourselves.

[46:36] Now you young fellas, you're not into groaning. But I can tell you from experience, it's in your future. It's coming. It's coming.

[46:46] Yeah, the time's going to come when you're going to roll out of bed in the morning and those joints are going to creak a little, you know, and you're going to groan. And the text says, the co-creation groans and travails in pain together until now.

[47:05] And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, that's that down payment. And the down payment is God's guarantee that he's going to complete what he put money down on.

[47:16] Okay? And you are not going to be lost, you are going to be saved. Even we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption. The adoption.

[47:27] What is that? To wit. That's a curious legal expression, which means by way of explanation. To wit, the redemption of our body.

[47:40] Our spirit has been redeemed. Our bodies have not. But the time is coming when God will complete the down payment made on us by finishing the job.

[47:57] And when the job is finished, you will have a glorified body and a glorified spirit. And you will be a new creation that will no longer be subject to death.

[48:09] We are going to trade in all of these aches and pains for a whole brand new body. Philippians chapter 3 says that our bodies will be fashioned like unto the glorious body of Jesus Christ.

[48:22] When he came out of that tomb, he was the same person, but he had a glorified body. And that body will not be subject to death again, and neither will ours.

[48:32] So guys, we're all going to be in this thing together, and here we are having breakfast at Studebaker's, but the time is coming when we are going to be sitting around the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and fellowshipping at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

[48:53] And it is just something that we cannot imagine, but that time is coming as surely as God is God, and Jesus died on that cross for our sins, that's what's awaiting us, and that's depicted in Revelation chapter 20 and 21, and so on.

[49:10] Okay, any questions or comments? Anybody has? Feel free. Yeah, Dustin? This might be on the subject of the off topic.

[49:20] So we know that we're talking about the Catholic church. So we know in 1 Timothy 2 it says that there's one mediator between God and man and man Christ Jesus, right? Do you know where the Catholic church gets its fixation on Mary?

[49:34] Now I know Mary ought to be venerated the way we would a hero, but where do they get that idea? I think in the rosary they address Mary. Yeah, well, I'll tell you, the answer to that is because they have a dual authority, scripture plus tradition, and by tradition I don't mean just things that have happened down through the years, but I mean the things that the church fathers, and this goes back to the first and second and third century in particular, things that the church fathers, and they are referred to, well, I won't go into their names, but Augustine was one of them, and probably the most famous one, he was a fourth century church father.

[50:22] They, the writings of the church fathers, Origen and Ignatius, and there's a whole host of them, and their writings and their decrees are considered to be the seedling of tradition for the Roman Catholics, and it becomes a real, so far as we are concerned, so far as Protestants are concerned, it's a creation of an impossible situation, religion, and I say that because virtually the church fathers had disagreements among themselves about different doctrines and things, so they were far from agreed on anything, on just about everything, they had their own viewpoints, and yet somehow all of that was filtered into what they regard as the findings of the church fathers, and they give that equal authority, and it's difficult to explain it even though I'm up to my eyeballs in it now with

[51:27] Christianity Clarified, but they take the position that whereas the scriptures are static, they're finished, they're complete, they're done, nothing is to be added to it, yet tradition provides a flexibility that you do not have in the scriptures, and this is one reason why Roman Catholics hold a number of doctrinal positions that are not verified in the Bible, they are verified in tradition, and when you take tradition and put it on the same level of authority as the Bible, then you've got an authority that is equal to the Bible, and it has a fluidity to it that can be changed, altered, or even deleted, and added to at the behest of the reigning Pope, and that gives them a flexibility of scripture so that they can, whatever you, whatever

[52:34] Roman Catholic, whatever Roman Catholicism cannot verify and justify in the Bible, they can in tradition, and we would say, well, that's just tradition, but they say, yes, but it has the same authority as the Bible, so they've got a built-in fail-safe system that allows them to add to, subtract from, delete, update, whatever, as they see the need to exist, and it makes it very convenient otherwise, yes.

[53:05] And we see that just happened in the news yesterday or the day before, the Pope came out and blessed homosexual to marry, Gary, they don't call it a marriage question, but he blessed their union, he blesses their union, and that's a new concept.

[53:28] Before that, the Catholic Church never did that, that just came out yesterday or the day before. Yeah, it was in the newspaper this morning, and they make a distinction between what the Pope did was he blessed the relationship, he did not bless, and a lot of people have this mixed up, he did not put his blessing upon homosexual marriages.

[53:54] He did not do that. He put his blessing upon homosexual couples' friendship and connection, but not marriage.

[54:07] And that, of course, caused quite a stir, too. Did I see another hand somewhere? No, I was going to say the exact same thing that Chuck said. Yeah, okay. Well, hey, the food is here, and thank you again, Michelle, for your great service.

[54:21] We do appreciate it. And thanks for your presence this morning, guys. So, we hung up a young woman, or no one woman in Port China.