The Birth Of Jesus Announced
Introduction
Four husbands were sitting in the maternity waiting room to hear the announcement concerning the birth of their child. After a few minutes a nurse walked in an announced, “Mr. Jones, you're the new father of twins!" The man replied, "How about that! I work for the Minnesota Twins baseball team."
About an hour later, the same nurse entered the waiting room and announced that Mrs. Smith had just had triplets. Mr. Smith stood up and said, "Well, how do ya like that, I work for 3M!"
When the nurse appeared next, she announced to the third man that his wife had given birth to quadruplets. "That's amazing! I work for the Four Seasons Hotel!"
At this point the fourth gentleman let out a little strangled gasp and hurriedly got up, obviously distraught. One of the other fathers asked him if he was okay, he explained, "I think I need a breath of fresh air." The man continued, "I'm the casting director for 101 Dalmatians."
This morning we’re going to look at what the Bible says about the announcement concerning the birth of Jesus Christ.
Over the years there have been many survey’s done relating to what people believe concerning the birth of Jesus. But in 1974 there was a survey handed out to 1500 protestant preachers and 700 protestant ministerial students. One of the questions asked was, “Do you believe that Jesus was born of a virgin without an earthly father?”
Out of the 1500 preachers 71% said yes; 10% were uncertain and 19% said no. Out of the 700 ministerial students 25% said yes; 6% were uncertain and 61% said no.
If you were to ask a doctor, “Could a person be born without the help of a man?” The doctor would think you were crazy. If you were to ask a teacher he would send you to the back of the class for asking such a dumb questions.
But the Bible very clearly teaches that this is what happened because nothing is impossible with God.
One of the reasons why many people cannot believe in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ is because they don’t understand the doctrine of Jesus. Many think that the birth of Jesus was his beginning. They don’t realize that Jesus has always existed.
John 1:1-3, 14 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made... 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (NIV)
John 8:56-58 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad." 57 "You are not yet fifty years old," the Jews said to him, "and you have seen Abraham!" 58 "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" (NIV)
The birth of Jesus was not so that he could be created, but it was for our benefit so we could be born again.
On July 26, 1971, Apollo 15 blasted off for a twelve-day mission to put man back on the moon. Astronauts David Scott, James Irwin and Al Worden successfully got to the moon, explored the area known as Hadley Rille, conducted scientific experiments and gathered unique rock samples, and safely returned to earth. James Irwin, a born-again Christian, reflected on the mission saying, "The Earth reminded us of a Christmas tree ornament hanging in the blackness of space. As we got farther and farther away it diminished in size. Finally it shrank to the size of a marble, the most beautiful marble you can imagine. That beautiful, warm, living object looked so fragile, so delicate, that if you touched it with a finger it would crumble and fall apart. Seeing this has to change a man, has to make a man appreciate the creation of God and the love of God." While walking on the moon, the heady thought came to him that he was participating in the greatest event in the history of the world – man walking on the moon! But then the Lord said to him; "I did something greater than that. I walked on the earth."
This morning I would like us to look at four announcements concerning the birth of Jesus and how the people responded to those announcements.