The Supernatural in the Birth of Jesus

In this part of the sermon: Martin turns to Matthew 1, highlighting the matter-of-fact declaration that Mary 'was found with child of the Holy Spirit' before cohabitation with Joseph. He emphasizes this as a…

Martin describes ordinary human conception as a process so amazing it's almost a miracle, to highlight how much more miraculous Jesus' supernatural conception was.

Everything that follows is predicated upon this supernatural conception. It is a natural event. A woman who has had no sexual intimacy with a man, in the marvel of God's ordinary way of producing children, that there should be as the fruit of that union of the husband and the wife, the amazing process of conception, which, though understood and analyzed in the rest, is still to the one who beholds it something that he's tempted to call...

7:50 - 8:24 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Luke 1 is examined, focusing on the angel's announcement to the virgin Mary and her question, 'How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?' Martin distinguishes this from other…

The birth of Isaac to Abraham and Sarah, with Sarah's 'dead womb' and Abraham's 'dead body,' is used to show God's intervention, but also to contrast it with Jesus' unique conception without human agency.

The most godly, knowledgeable Israelite would surely be aware of the unusual intervention of God in the birth of Isaac, through whom the promises made to Abraham found their next stage of fulfillment. And God did an amazing thing. Romans tells us Sarah's womb was as good as dead. She passed through the menopause.

11:37 - 12:01 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Luke 1 is examined, focusing on the angel's announcement to the virgin Mary and her question, 'How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?' Martin distinguishes this from other…

The miraculous quickening of Elizabeth's womb for John the Baptist's birth is cited as another example of God's intervention, but again, distinct from Mary's conception because it still involved human agency.

The godly mother of Samuel. And in the case of her own cousin Elizabeth, she had the nickname Aaron. It was a reproach in Israel to be barren. And her nickname was Barren.

13:01 - 13:13 Read in full sermon

Driving home: When you and I can, with these little minds of ours, comprehend the constitution, of the person of our Redeemer, when we can fully grasp it and fully encompass it with our gray matter, then I'll believe you when you tell…

Martin uses the analogy of trying to fit the Atlantic Ocean into a water pitcher to illustrate the impossibility of fully comprehending the mystery of Christ's person with human minds.

then I'll believe you when you tell me that you just fit the Atlantic Ocean into your water pitcher that sits on your dining room table this afternoon. You kids say, Pastor, that's ridiculous. You can't put the Atlantic Ocean in a water pitcher and fill up or empty the ocean into one water pitcher. No, you can't.

25:31 - 25:52 Read in full sermon

Driving home: When you and I can, with these little minds of ours, comprehend the constitution, of the person of our Redeemer, when we can fully grasp it and fully encompass it with our gray matter, then I'll believe you when you tell…

A quote is used to encourage listeners to wade as far as reason allows into the mystery of Christ, and then to 'swim in wonder' through faith and worship.

But hold whatever you can and then behold the ocean with wonder and with praise and adoration and worship. For as someone said, faith and wonder in worship may swim where reason may only wade.

26:01 - 26:18 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Two propositions define Christ's person: someone who existed from eternity entered Mary's womb, and someone who had no prior existence (humanity) came forth. This results in the…

A hypothetical story of a little Hebrew boy seeing baby Jesus in the manger is used to emphasize that Jesus appeared as an ordinary human infant, without any visible divine markers.

Suppose there was a little Hebrew boy out taking a walk that night with his daddy before he went to bed and the crowds are milling. Remember, there was no room in the ordinary hotel in the town. So they had to go into what was probably, a cave where they would keep the animals. And there in the silence of that cave, she brought forth her child.

38:01 - 38:20 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Two propositions define Christ's person: someone who existed from eternity entered Mary's womb, and someone who had no prior existence (humanity) came forth. This results in the…

The example of Jesus scraping his knee and bleeding like any other child is used to underscore His true humanity, contrasting it with apocryphal stories of a super-human child.

That's what you would have seen. And as he grew up, if he stumbled out in the parking lot, scraped his knee, he had to come running in for a bandaid. Like any kid, he didn't scrape off half his kneecap and didn't bleed. So people look, he didn't bleed.

39:19 - 39:36 Read in full sermon

The point: Be prepared to either dismiss the birth, life, and death of Jesus as irrelevant nonsense and be your own savior (and live with the consequences), or accept God's estimation of your sin and His provision in Christ.

The idea of an 'unbounded mind' (God) being 'mysteriously contained' in a 'little womb' is used to highlight the profound condescension of the Incarnation, contrasting it with self-help philosophies.

help you need to be rescued is within you, why would God subject himself to such indignity? If self-help is in you, then screw it. Mysteriating in Mary's womb, side the idea of unbounded mind in a little womb. Listen to the jokers on Channel 13, spewing out their

55:13 - 55:53 Read in full sermon

The point: Be prepared to either dismiss the birth, life, and death of Jesus as irrelevant nonsense and be your own savior (and live with the consequences), or accept God's estimation of your sin and His provision in Christ.

Martin refers to 'jokers on Channel 13 spewing out their self-help, fix-yourself-up pop religion' to illustrate the pervasive nature of human-centered philosophies that deny the need for a divine Savior.

help you need to be rescued is within you, why would God subject himself to such indignity? If self-help is in you, then screw it. Mysteriating in Mary's womb, side the idea of unbounded mind in a little womb. Listen to the jokers on Channel 13, spewing out their

55:13 - 55:53 Read in full sermon

The point: If you see yourself as a sinner, embrace the hope that God in love has come down to us in Christ to take us to where He is.

A quote from A.W. Tozer about trying to 'think your way to God' as impossible as 'climbing to the moon on a moonbeam' is used to illustrate the futility of human effort to reach God.

message of the manger is that God in love has come down to us in the person of his love. And God has come down to us, having come down to us where we are, that he might take us to where he is. I was listening to a sermon of A.W. Tozer's the other day, and one of his many striking

57:57 - 58:16 Read in full sermon

The point: If you see yourself as a sinner, embrace the hope that God in love has come down to us in Christ to take us to where He is.

Building on Tozer's moonbeam analogy, Martin creates an analogy of a ladder made of strong metal reaching from the moon to earth, representing Christ's Incarnation as the substantial means by which God came to us, enabling us to reach Him.

How ludicrous to think you could climb to the moon on a moonbeam. He says, you can no more climb to the moon on a moonbeam than you can think your way to God. But then my mind got going. I said, yeah, but suppose there were creatures on the moon. And they had the ability to take out of the bowels of the moon's surface the kind of materials that would make the most unusually strong advanced aluminum titanium ladder of some kind. And they could actually make a ladder that could stand the stress of reaching from the moon to earth.

58:33 - 59:04 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not let the Christmas season pass without pausing to think deeply about the mystery of the supernatural conception, the supernatural person, and the wonder of His supernatural salvation.

An extended quotation from a hymn by E.L. Schlecht is used to express the wonder, adoration, and gratitude for the Incarnation and Christ's redemptive work, reinforcing the sermon's themes.

It was a hymn writer by the name of. E.L. Schlecht. I wouldn't know him if he was raised from the dead and stood before me. But I know him in his words. He caught something of the wonder of it. He wrote, My God, my creator, the heavens did bow to ransom offenders and stooped very low.

61:39 - 62:02 Read in full sermon