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On Apr 10, 2011: Luke 2:1-7 Jesus Christ Is Born · Teachings On This Day On FerventWord

• 00:00 You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2011. 00:13 This morning as we look at Luke chapter 2, you might be checking your calendars thinking, is it Christmas time already? What's going on here? Of course, this is a portion that we often cover and talk about and teach about in the month of December as we prepare for the celebration of Christmas because that's the day that we've chosen to celebrate and remember the birth of Jesus. 00:36 But no, it's not Christmas. You can put those gifts away. You don't have to give them out yet. We're continuing our pattern, going verse by verse, chapter by chapter through the Bible. And here we are in the book of Luke. And this is the passage that God has before us today. 00:52 Now as we look at verses 1 through 7 here in chapter 2, there's three main points I'd like to highlight for you. Three things that I think are important for us to consider as we look at this passage. It's very familiar to us. Of course, we all know about the birth of Jesus and the census and the town of Bethlehem and the things that took place there. And yet as we look at these things, 01:17 we need to have an understanding of the significance and the importance of what was going on. And so it's important to look at these things kind of for the first time in many ways, understanding that these things are included because they are very important for us to understand the circumstances and the things that were going on around the birth of Jesus. 01:42 So the first point I'd like to share with you or highlight for you this morning is the final preparation for Jesus' birth. What we have here in verses 1 through 3 is this final preparation for the birth of Christ. Verse 1 says this, And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 02:09 And so what we have here is this command that is given by a man referred to as Caesar Augustus. Now, Caesar Augustus was the first Roman emperor. He was the first one to hold that title in the Roman Empire, to be the emperor, to be the supreme ruler of the Roman Empire. 02:31 Prior to that, Rome of course existed, but it was a slightly different government style. In fact, in the decades before Caesar Augustus and the beginnings of Caesar Augustus' reign, Rome was in a period of great civil war. 02:48 You might remember Julius Caesar and his importance of establishing the Roman Empire and bringing it to the place that it came of power and prominence. But when Julius Caesar died, he passed on the nation of Rome to three individuals. 03:10 That's always a bad idea because those three individuals then began to fight and there was this civil war going on. These three nations basically that were all part of the Roman Empire, these three heirs to the throne, 03:25 were fighting amongst each other and it was Caesar Augustus who finally was victorious and he conquered the other two and he brought peace to the Roman Empire by defeating his enemies and by defeating those other two who opposed him for the throne. Caesar Augustus then brought this peace, we call it the Pax Romana, it's the Roman peace that it was famous for. 03:52 And so in taking his place as the first emperor of Rome, he unites Rome. Before that, it's been periods of civil war and great danger, but now there's peace, there's a little bit of safety and security. The Roman roads have been paved all around the nation. And so what we're seeing is, in the Roman Empire, is the preparations that God was doing in order for the gospel message to go out. 04:21 Now, Jesus came at the time that he came because it was the right time for him to come. God sent Jesus at the perfect time in the scope of human history. 04:36 Now we can look back at the Roman Empire and we can analyze it and we can look at what was going on. We can look at the peace that was there. We can look at the unified language. The Greek language was well spread throughout the Roman Empire so it was easy to communicate. The roads had been paved and so it was easy to travel and spread the news. And we can look back and we can figure, well, this might be some of the reasons why God chose to bring Jesus into the world at the time that He did. 05:04 But whatever the reasons are, God knows. What we understand though is that the perfect time, at the right time, Jesus Christ came. And as he was coming, God was preparing the way in advance. He was preparing the world, preparing civilization, preparing the nations for the coming Messiah, the coming of Jesus Christ. 05:29 And as part of that preparation here, we have Caesar Augustus and the work that took place there in the Roman Empire. And now he's participating in the plan of God. Whether he knew it or not, we don't know. But he's participating in the plan of God and declaring that all the world should be registered. 05:49 He was a powerful man as the emperor of Rome. He could make a command and the whole world, the whole civilized world at that time would comply. They would obey. And so he commands, we need to take a census. There needs to be a registration. 06:10 Now the registration was for two reasons. First of all, it was for military purposes so that they would know who they could call upon to enlist in the army. But also, secondly, the registration was for taxation. 06:25 So that they could tax the people appropriately and get the best amount of return for the people that they had. And so they registered the people to get a good headcount for the taxes and make sure that they were getting those taxes paid. Verse 2, the census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. 06:48 And so Luke gives us a little bit of reference to time frame. Now, from these things and from the context here, we understand that Jesus was born probably around 4 BC. There's some that, you know, suggest a little bit earlier, some that suggest a little bit later, but that's kind of the best and the conservative estimate that Jesus was born around 4 BC. And so this census was taken while this guy, Quirinius, was governing Syria. 07:17 Syria was the Roman province that the nation of Israel or the Jewish people were in. And so he was their governor and he was in charge of the census in their region for the Roman Empire. And so verse 3, so all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. 07:38 And so the way that it works there within the region of Syria was that for registration you would return to your hometown to be counted. Now we just went through a census just recently, back in 2010, and so we are familiar with that, but none of us had to go back to where we were born in order to participate in the census, right? They sent it to our homes, they sent it to where we live, and then you just had to fill it out. 08:06 But in those days in the region of Syria, the practice was to go back to your hometown, go back to where you were born, go back to where your descendants were because then it would be easy for them to track the lineage of your family and understand where you came from and who you descended from. And so that was the practice and that's what everybody did. Everybody returned to his own city. 08:34 Now it's interesting, we don't have the records today, but Justin Martyr, who was a famous Christian apologist back in 150 AD, that's about 100 years after Jesus lived, he 08:47 he writes in his writings that in his day, you could go and look up the records of this census that Luke was referring to. We've since lost those records through the many wars and things of history. But in his day, a hundred years later, he was still able to look up those records and see the information from that census that was taken, that was here commanded by Caesar Augustus. 09:14 And so everyone goes to their own city to be registered. Now we all know that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and it's a good question to ask, why was he born in Bethlehem when Joseph and Mary were living in Nazareth? It was about 80 miles north of Bethlehem. 09:34 Was it because the best hospitals were in Bethlehem? Was it because they had the best midwives for childbirth that they went down to Bethlehem? No. They went down to Bethlehem because of this census that was going on. Again, this is the final preparation for the birth of the Messiah, for the birth of Jesus Christ. And so they return to their home city, the city of Bethlehem. 10:04 Why? Well, because Joseph is a descendant of David and Bethlehem is referred to as the city of David. We'll see that in the next verse. And so he travels to Bethlehem, not because it's the best place to have a kid. In fact, quite the contrary, it is probably a very unusual, unlikely, uncomfortable place for them to have a child, as we'll see in the next few verses. 10:29 But what we see happening here is that God is at work. Because he had declared 700 years prior to this event, he had declared in Micah chapter 5 verse 2 that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. And so the emperor, Caesar Augustus, gives this command to the whole empire, to the whole civilized world. 10:54 And here, this little insignificant place there in Nazareth is Joseph and Mary. And then another insignificant place, Bethlehem, which is referred to as the city of David. They're insignificant in the scope of the Roman Empire. They're insignificant in the scope of the world. And yet, there was some important things happening here. God was working behind the scenes. He was using these unlikely events to accomplish His purposes. 11:23 What we have in the giving of this census is the final preparation for Jesus' birth. Because we see that once they are there in Bethlehem, the time comes for Jesus to be born. God is at work behind the scenes to accomplish His will. This is important for us to know, not only in the life of Jesus and the birth of Jesus, but for our own selves. 11:49 That God is at work behind the scenes. And there's things that are going on in the world around us that seem unrelated. There's things that are going on in our lives that seem insignificant. And yet God is using those things to bring forth salvation. He's using those things to bring forth a Savior. He's using those things to accomplish His will. 12:16 In His perfect timing, when all the things are prepared, then His will is fulfilled. And that's what we see here in the life of Jesus, the birth of Jesus. It was the perfect timing. Everything was prepared and now it's time for Jesus to be born. And so the first thing we see is the final preparation for Jesus' birth. Now as we go on in verses 4 and 5, 12:44 The second point I'd like to share with you is that Jesus' birth fulfilled prophecy. Jesus' birth fulfilled prophecy. Look at verse 4. It says, And so this command is given by Caesar Augustus. 13:11 And Joseph makes the journey. He packs up. Mary comes along with him, as we'll see in the next verse. And they make the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Now there's a reference here to Galilee. Galilee was a region there in the land of Israel. It was right next to the Sea of Galilee. And within that region was the city of Nazareth where Joseph and Mary lived. 13:40 Nazareth was a small city. It wasn't important even to this day. It's a small and pretty insignificant city in comparison to the rest of the cities of the world. But there they are in Nazareth. This command is given and so they have to go to Bethlehem. Now Bethlehem is about 70 to 80 miles away for them. 14:03 And they didn't have, you know, the luxuries of train or plane or automobile like we have. And so they would have had to walk or perhaps ride a donkey in the best case from Nazareth to Bethlehem, this 80 mile journey. Now, just for a little bit of perspective, that's roughly the equivalent of going from Corona to Bethlehem. 14:29 Do you guys remember some of you were at the marriage retreat a couple of weeks ago, right there where we were? That's, that's about 80 miles, give or take. It's about 80 to 90 miles. Uh, and so could you imagine taking that journey on foot? That would be the idea. Or going from here to Barstow. Again, it's probably about 80, 87 miles, depending on where you're at in Corona. But, uh, 14:50 But it's about an 80-mile journey. And so the idea of taking that journey, that trip on foot, would be not very pleasant. We wouldn't want to consider that. That wouldn't be something we'd want to think about. And yet this is what they did because, of course, that was the transportation of the day. And so they begin their journey. They pack up and they begin this 80-mile trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem. 15:17 And here we see the first prophecy I want to bring to your attention this morning. And that is that the Messiah, the Savior that God had promised, would be born in Bethlehem. That's what we see being fulfilled here in Luke chapter 2 verse 4. They go from Nazareth to Bethlehem. It's called the city of David. And it says there in verse 6, 15:46 While they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Now God had promised in Micah chapter 5 verse 2. I encourage you, check that out. Spend some time on that later. In Micah chapter 5 verse 2, God is speaking to Bethlehem and he says, "...though you are little among the thousands of Judah..." Bethlehem was a small city, it was a small place... 16:15 He says, Here, God says some very important things about Bethlehem. He says, Bethlehem, you're very small. There's lots of other cities that are bigger than you are, and you're pretty insignificant. 16:41 In fact, the little city of Bethlehem, even today, the population is estimated to be between 25 and 35,000. But back in Jesus' day when he was born, the estimates go from about 300 to about 1,200 people are estimated to be living in Bethlehem at that time. 17:02 And so it's very appropriate. Though you are little among the thousands, God says to Bethlehem. Yeah, very small population, 300, maybe 1200 people living there. But God says, yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel. God says through the prophet Micah, 700 years before Jesus is born, 17:27 that out of Bethlehem will come the one who will rule in Israel. He's talking about that Savior that he has been promising since the very beginning. He's referred to as the Messiah. We know him by name, Jesus. He would come forth from Bethlehem. But he also says, "...whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting." 17:55 And so we also understand here that God is making reference that this ruler, this Messiah, that Jesus would be more than just an ordinary man, but that his beginnings are from eternity, from everlasting, and that he is God. Jesus Christ, being God, became a man and he was born of the Virgin Mary there in Bethlehem. 18:24 And so this prophecy about the Messiah is very important. It gives us a little hint of his deity, understanding that Jesus was God, but also indicating where he would be born. Now, this was not something that, you know, the Christian church made up. Back in Matthew chapter 2, you might remember when the wise men want to go and visit this baby that was born because they saw his star, right? 18:53 They go to the religious leaders of Jerusalem and say, you know, hey, we're here to see the baby that was born, king of the Jews. Herod and all the rest, they get all freaked out. They call the religious leaders. The religious leaders say, well, he's supposed to be born in Bethlehem. That's where he's supposed to come from. And they quote Micah chapter 5 verse 2 as well. That was long understood. 19:19 Jesus was going to be born in Bethlehem. And so that's one prophecy that we see fulfilled here by Jesus about the Messiah. A second prophecy that we find here is fulfilled in Jesus is that the Messiah would be a descendant of David. The Messiah would be a descendant of David. 19:42 It says here at the end of verse 4 that Joseph goes to Bethlehem because he was of the house and lineage of David. Joseph was a descendant of David. Mary was as well, and we'll talk about that in the weeks to come. But Joseph was a descendant of David, and you have the record of that at the end of Luke chapter 3. 20:07 It gives the account from David through Joseph, indicating, showing that Joseph was a direct descendant of David. And therefore, Jesus as well is a direct descendant of David. Through Mary's line, of course, because she was a descendant as well. But because he was descendant of David, he went to Bethlehem. Because Bethlehem was the city of David. That's why he went there to be registered. 20:36 But it's very important to know that the Messiah was declared by God hundreds of years in advance that it would be from the line of David. This is where the Savior would come from. In Jeremiah chapter 23 verse 5, God says, "...behold, the days are coming that I will raise to David a branch of righteousness. A king shall reign and prosper and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth." 21:04 There in Jeremiah 23.5, God says, I'm going to raise up in the line of David a king of righteousness. One who will rule in judgment and righteousness upon the earth. 21:19 Now, of course, you and I know that we don't see the full fulfillment of this promise. Jesus isn't ruling and reigning physically here on the earth, but we do know that he has been ascended up into heaven at the right hand of the throne of God. And so, although we don't yet see all things put under his feet, that is the reality that exists, that he is ruling over all. He is ruling over everything. 21:48 You might remember back in 2 Samuel chapter 7, David saw the tent that housed the Ark of the Covenant. He thought, you know, God just has this little tent and I have a nice home. I want to build God a house. I want to build Him a temple. God speaks to him through Nathan the prophet and He says, David, it's good that was in your heart, but you're not going to build me a house. Your son will build me a house, but you're not going to build me a house. 22:19 But God says, here's what I'll do. You're not going to build me a house. I will build you a house. He goes on to tell David in 2 Samuel 7, 16, he says, your house and your kingdom shall be established forever. Your throne shall be established forever. God is declaring to David that it's the throne of David. That is, one of his descendants will be the one who rules for eternity forever. 22:47 Again, it's the promise that had been given that the Messiah, the Savior, would come from the line of David. He would be a descendant of David. And so what we find here in verse 4 is these two prophecies are fulfilled in Jesus. The Messiah, number 1, would be born in Bethlehem. Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Number 2, the Messiah would be a descendant of David. Jesus is a descendant of David. Verse 5. 23:17 And here we see the third prophecy I want to highlight for you this morning. Prophecy number three was that the Messiah would be born of a virgin. He would be born of a virgin. Mary is the betrothed wife of Joseph. 23:41 Now, a betrothal in those days was a very serious deal. It was similar to engagement in that they were promised to be married, but it was much more serious than what we would consider engagement because a betrothal, in order to get out of it, it required a divorce. 23:59 In the betrothal period, they were referred to as husband and wife. They did not participate in intercourse. They didn't consummate the marriage during that betrothal period. That actually happened, of course, when the wedding occurred. 24:16 But during that time, it was that serious commitment. We're pledged to one another. We're committed to one another for the rest of our lives. In order to get out of that, it would require a divorce. In fact, there's cases where there's one who is called a virgin widow. And that happened when, during the betrothal process, the husband, the guy, he's killed or he dies. And so the woman is left as a widow alone. 24:47 but also she's still a virgin. It's kind of a contradiction of terms in our minds, but it was something that would take place because they had this betrothal period. And so Joseph and Mary are betrothed. They're promised to one another. They're committed to one another. They're husband and wife, but they're not intimately involved with one another. This is very different for us. For us here in the United States, it's common for children to be born out of wedlock. 25:15 In fact, I think some recent statistics I found were that 39% of kids here in the United States are born out of wedlock. And so, you know, that's about 40% of the children who are born don't have, you know, parents who are married to one another. Also, what's common for us here in the United States is sex before marriage. 25:41 Statistics that were done, a poll that was taken and a study that was done back in 2002 came to the conclusion that 95% of our population has participated in sex before marriage. And so it's very common for us. It's in the TV shows, it's in the movies, it's in our workplaces, it's in our neighborhoods, it's in our schools, it's all over the place. This general understanding, this acceptance that 26:11 People just have sex before marriage. It's a common thing. It's not something that's considered strange, even though it's not what God has required, even though it's not what God has said. It is the case here in the United States. Now, that's one thing. But going back to Judea, back to Israel 2,000 years ago, it was an entirely different thing. A completely different context than what we're familiar with. They didn't participate... 26:46 in premarital sex. They didn't participate in those relationships. Of course those existed, but they were very rare. It was very rare for that to take place for a couple of reasons. One of them was, well there would be some severe public humiliation that went along with that. To have a child out of wedlock, oh that was something that would be severely penalized by the society. In fact, 27:18 They were in danger of being stoned if they were found to be with child before marriage. You remember in John chapter 8, when that adulterous woman is brought before Jesus, they say, hey, we caught her in the act. What should we do? Let's stone her. What do you say, Jesus? They were wanting to stone this woman, to execute her, to put her to death because of her sinful action, her sinful condition. And so it would be a serious offense to be found with child before 27:50 outside of marriage. Not only that, we have the testimony of Mary there in Luke chapter 1 where she says, I've not known a man. As the angel Gabriel is telling her that God's going to do a work and she's going to give birth and she says, but I'm a virgin. How can that happen? I've not yet known a man. And so we see that the scriptures teach very clearly here they were betrothed, they were not yet intimate, she was a virgin, and yet here she's about to give birth to a son. 28:27 In Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14, it tells us, Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call His name Emmanuel. Once again we see that hundreds of years prior to the event taking place, hundreds of years prior to the census being commanded and the journey of Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem, hundreds of years prior, 29:01 God speaks to the prophet Isaiah and says, I'm going to give you a sign. The virgin shall conceive and bear a son. Now, how is that possible? It's not possible unless you're God. And if you're God, then all things are possible. And so we have no problem because it's God who has orchestrated these events. It's God who is in control. 29:26 And so Mary, being a virgin, has conceived and she's about to bear a son. Notice also there in that prophecy of Isaiah 7.14, again we have a hint there of the deity of Jesus. Because he says, shall call his name Emmanuel. Emmanuel means God with us. And so once again we see the reality that Jesus Christ, being God, became a man. 29:57 By being born of a virgin, Mary, who is betrothed to Joseph. And so you have these three prophecies that are fulfilled here just in these two verses in the life of Jesus. Now this is pretty astounding. This is pretty substantial. 30:15 to have these three things fulfilled. And so I want to give you a sense of how important the fulfillment of prophecy is in the life of Jesus. And to do that, I need to kind of walk you through a little bit of some math. And I'm not a mathematician, nor am I a math teacher. So if you get confused, it's not your fault, it's my fault, okay? But let's talk about probabilities a little bit. And maybe you can talk to Jessica afterwards if I confuse you. 30:43 So probabilities. If I give you a coin and I say call it heads or tails, you call heads or you call tails, you have a one in two chance of calling it right. You can either call heads, you can either call tails. You got a one in two chance, a 50-50 shot of getting it right. 31:06 So that's the first step here in probabilities. Now, let's say we're going to do a raffle. Let's assume there's 50 people in here. We all write our names down on a piece of paper. We put it in a hat. We mix it up and a name is pulled. You have a 1 in 50 chance of winning that raffle. You with me so far? So, coin toss, you have 1 in 2 chance. Raffle, you have a 1 in 50 chance of winning the raffle. 31:39 The California Lottery jackpot. That's all five numbers plus the mega number. It's a 1 in 41 million chance. So when you play, for every dollar that you play, I think it's a dollar, then you have a 1 in 41,416,353 chance of winning. It's not very good odds, but that's what they are and... 32:07 Now we have eight prophecies. Now this is based upon the work of a professor named Peter Stoner. It goes back to 1944 in a book he published called Science Speaks. And this book is now available online if you want to check it out. You can just go to sciencespeaks.net and all of his work there in that book is there for free. You don't have to pay for it. So he published this work back in 1944. He was a mathematician. 32:36 And so he was playing with probability. He was playing with the odds of prophecies being fulfilled in a single individual. What are the chances that you could take eight prophecies about the Messiah and they all happen to be fulfilled in one person? So let's say we look at Mario, for instance. What are the odds that he could be the Messiah? 33:04 Well, based on some eight prophecies that he went through in his study, prophecies like where the Messiah would be born, some of his friends, how he would be betrayed, how he would be put to death, those types of things. 33:18 If all of those would be fulfilled in one person, it would be very unusual. In fact, you have a chance of 1 in 10 to the 17th. Now that's a 1 with 17 zeros behind it and you can see that number there. I think that's called 100 quadrillion. 33:38 You can check it out later and verify that for sure. But that's a big number. So that's the odds that eight prophecies could be fulfilled in a single individual. That's the odds that those things could take place, could happen exactly the way that God said they would happen in any individual, in one person throughout all of history. That's very unlikely. It's very... 34:06 Well, it would be very odd for that to take place. The probability is not good. The odds are not good. It's 1 in 10 to the 17th. In fact, you would have a better shot winning the lottery twice here in California than 34:25 to win twice, and I mean twice in a row. So you buy a ticket, you win the jackpot. Then you go out the next week, you buy a ticket, and you win the jackpot. Twice in a row. To win the California jackpot, twice in a row, it's odds of 1 in 1.7 times 10 to the 15, but just scratch the 1.7. So 1 in 10 to the 15. It's easier... 34:49 for someone to win the lottery twice in a row than it is for eight prophecies to be fulfilled in a single individual. You see, what we're establishing here is the fact that this was not just by circumstance or by chance that these prophecies are being fulfilled in Jesus. Now, if you won the lottery twice in a row, we'd begin to think, 35:16 You've got this rigged, don't you? You've got something figured out here. How could you do that? That's just not possible to win it two times. There's people that have won twice, but they spend hundreds of dollars over several years to do that. But to win, pick the numbers, and then pick the numbers twice in a row, something's wrong here. Something's fishy. That is just not possible. You see, when we talk about Jesus fulfilling prophecy, the same is true. 35:47 for eight prophecies to be fulfilled in a single individual, it's just not possible statistically. It's just not possible mathematically. It's just the odds are too great against it unless you've got it rigged. And see, that's where God comes in. Going back to verses 1 through 3, right? God was preparing the world for Jesus' birth. 36:15 He's working behind the scenes. He knows what's going to happen. He knows what's taking place. He's the one who wrote all of those prophecies because he knew the things that would be accomplished in Jesus. And so it's not by chance that Jesus just happened to fulfill these eight prophecies, the three that we saw here this morning, plus some others that he used for his research. It's not just by chance that that took place. It's not just by chance that that happened, but 36:46 But it's by design. God put it together. God orchestrated it. He accomplished it. So a toinkos, toinkos, a coin toss, one in two chance, heads or tails. A raffle, assuming there's 50 of us, one in 50 shot. What's the chances that one individual could fulfill eight prophecies about the Messiah? One in 10 to the 17. It's easier said 37:22 to win the lottery twice in a row than for Jesus to not be the Messiah. That's pretty astounding. That's pretty substantial. But wait, I'm not quite done. Professor Stoner went on to analyze, okay, that's just eight prophecies. Now, we understand the Bible gives many prophecies about the Messiah. In fact, it's estimated that Jesus fulfilled over 300 prophecies in his lifetime. 37:53 Some studies have gone and looked and said, well, there's a hundred that we can kind of nail down and the rest are kind of duplicates. They refer to the same type of thing. So, okay, so there's a hundred prophecies about Jesus that he fulfilled. Well, Professor Stoner took basically half of that. 38:11 He looked at 48 prophecies. What is the probability? What is the math behind that? What's the chance of one person, one individual, fulfilling 48 prophecies about the Messiah? Well, him and his students, they did the work, they did the math, and they came up with this number. There's a 1 in 10 to the 157th chance that 38:37 that 48 prophecies about the Messiah could be fulfilled in any individual throughout all of history. Now you can see the number of zeros on there. I'm not even going to attempt to pronounce that number. I don't know if it has a name, but it's a big number. It's very unlikely. It's really beyond possibility for that to take place, for that to happen. It's not reasonable. 39:07 Again, let's compare it to the California lottery for just a moment. In order to have similar type of odds, you would have to win the California lottery 20 times in a row. 20 times in a row. So every dollar you play for 20 times wins the jackpot. I mean, that is just, it's not possible. I don't know how else to say that. I don't have stronger words than to say, it's not possible. It's not possible. 39:37 People don't win the lottery 20 times in a row. And if they did, what would we say? They've got it rigged. Something's going on. That's just not possible. In the same way, it would be easier for someone to win the lottery 20 times in a row than it would be for Jesus to not be the Messiah. That's based on statistics. It's based on the laws of probability. 40:05 This is a well-published work or well-researched work. It's a well-fought against work and it still remains, it still stands that these probabilities are very, very conservative. This isn't like, you know, let's go out on a limb and give the most probability, the highest. No, no, he cut it back and cut it back and cut it back and still the number is astronomical. And so what does this mean? Basically it means Jesus is the Messiah. 40:37 He is the Messiah. There's no way around it. It's mathematically impossible for someone else to be the Messiah. If Jesus is not the Messiah, if He's not the Savior, no one else will be. Because the only way for all of these things to converge in the life of a single person is for it to be rigged. For God to be orchestrating it and putting it together. And that's what happened. 41:08 He orchestrated not just the life of Jesus, but world history to accomplish His will and His purposes, to fulfill the prophecies that He brought forth through the prophets in the Old Testament. And so what we have here, in even just three prophecies being fulfilled here in the life of Jesus, in the birth of Jesus, is absolute certainty that He is the Messiah, that He is the Savior. Now if that's the case, 41:44 If Jesus is the Savior that was promised throughout all of history, then we need to listen to what He says. And He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. He is the only way of salvation. His credibility is forever proven by the fact that 42:13 He fulfilled these prophecies, most of which were not in His control. Like, how do you control where you're going to be born? How do you control what certain people around you are going to do and how you're going to be put to death? How do you control those things that you cannot control? You can't, unless you're God. And see again, the point here is that God is at work. He was preparing the Roman Empire through Caesar Augustus. He was preparing the world for 42:41 orchestrating events to bring forth the Savior. Now this is important to know and understand. Not only because it establishes Jesus Christ for sure as the Messiah, as the Savior, it's important to know and understand because this is the way God works. He fulfills His Word. His promises do not go unfulfilled. He never breaks a promise. He accomplishes His Word. The things that He has said, He does. 43:15 He makes sure that they happen, that they take place. And even if he has to orchestrate the events of history, he does so. Raising up nations and casting down nations, he does so. We've seen that. He's got a good track record. His prophecies thus far have been 100% fulfilled exactly the way that he declared they would be. We see that in the life of Jesus. We also see that in the nation of Israel and many other things that have taken place. 43:49 And so the idea of believing in Jesus is not a, you know, you have to have blind faith or you have to be crazy or check your brain at the door. No, it makes sense. Statistically, there's no way that Jesus is not the Messiah. He has to be. God had to have done this. 44:16 The odds that Jesus is not the Messiah are greater than the odds of a single individual, you, going out and winning the lottery, the jackpot, 20 times in a row. That's some pretty good odds. 44:32 You can count on that for sure. Jesus Christ is the Savior. You can believe Him. You can listen to Him. You can live your life the way that He's called you to. You can put your faith and trust in Him and receive the forgiveness of your sins and have the hope and the promise of eternity. It's for sure. No question about it. 44:56 So here, back in Luke chapter 2, first of all, we see the final preparations for Jesus' birth. Secondly, we see that Jesus, His birth fulfilled prophecy. And then finally, number 3, as we look at verses 6 and 7, is that Jesus was born in humility. Verse 6, So it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. 45:18 And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. Here in verse 6 and 7, we see the actual delivery of Jesus. The time came while they were there in Bethlehem. The days were completed. It's time to give birth. The contractions were upon her. No escaping it. 45:50 Moms know how that is. You can't delay it. You can't put it off. It's not up to you. You can't wait for a more convenient time. There they are in Bethlehem. They don't have the best accommodations. They don't have the best environment. But the time is now. The baby is going to be born. Jesus is going to be born. It says there in verse 7, she brought forth her firstborn son. Quick side note. Firstborn there implies that there were other children after Jesus. 46:22 And in fact, that's what the Bible declares. In John chapter 12, it talks about Jesus' brothers. In Luke chapter 8, it talks about Jesus' brothers. James refers to himself as the brother of the Lord. Jude also is believed to be the brother of Jesus. Those who wrote those epistles there in the end of the New Testament. Mary did not remain a virgin forever, but it was for her firstborn son that she was a virgin forever. 46:52 In Matthew 1, verse 25, it tells us there that Joseph did not know her. Now, that's know in the biblical sense. That's intimately know her until she had brought forth her firstborn son and he called his name Jesus. And so after Jesus was born, then Mary and Joseph continued in a normal marriage relationship. 47:14 Physically, emotionally, spiritually. You understand what I'm saying. They continued in a normal relationship. She did not remain a virgin, but went on to have other children along with Joseph. 47:27 Well, she gives birth to her firstborn son, that's Jesus, and she wraps him in swaddling cloths. And this is what they would do. They would have these strips of cloth and they would wrap the baby up to kind of keep him tight and protected and probably warm there because they were out there among the elements. And then she laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. 47:51 She laid him in a manger. Now a manger, of course we think of a manger and we think of the nativity scene, but a manger is just basically a feeding trough. 48:02 It's where they would put the food to feed the animals. It wasn't a place where, you know, Colleen would want to put little Obadiah, right? I mean, it was a place that would be dirty, a place that would not be pleasant for giving birth to a kid nor for caring for a newborn baby. But they're in this feeding trough and it says, "...because there's no room for them in the inn." And so we understand here that they were out there with the animals, right? 48:30 They're out there in what we refer to as a stable. Now when we think of a stable, we think of that wooden building, kind of that type of thing. But more likely it was a cave. It was dug out of the rock and 48:43 and the feeding trough as well was probably dug out of the rock in the wall. There would be this part that they dug out to put the food for the animals, and that's probably where they were. In fact, there's a cave there in Bethlehem that is still to this day believed to be the birthplace of Jesus. Constantine, in 300 AD or so, built a big church around it to kind of preserve it and protect it, that this is where Jesus was born. 49:11 And so they're probably in this cave there with the feeding trough is where Jesus is placed because there's no room for them. 49:18 Now, why is there no room for them? Well, that goes back to verses 1 through 3. The census was commanded. The whole world was going to be registered. And so all those there in Judea, those in the region of Israel who were of the line of David would go back to Bethlehem because that was the city of David. And so they would go back to Bethlehem in order to be registered. 49:43 In order to participate in this census. And so Bethlehem, although it only had 300, maybe 1200 people, at this time, it was full of people. In fact, it was overrun with people. There was no more room for people because of this census that had been given. Well, the end result, what we see here is that Jesus was born in humility. Humility. 50:09 For sure, looking at the probability, we understand, we know Jesus is the Son of God. He is the Messiah. He is the Savior of the world. And yet He's brought in to the world in this incredible humility. Incredible humility. He was born in a cave, laid in a manger. No fanfare, no great hospital, no famous doctors. Born in a cave, laid in a manger. 50:47 No welcoming party, no balloons, no celebration like that. Born in a cave. Just absolute humility. Now you can contrast that with Caesar Augustus. Caesar Augustus, his real name was Octavius. And yet when he conquered the other two and united the nation... 51:19 He got the Senate, the Roman Senate, because before Rome was an empire, it was a republic and there were senators and there were votes and there were laws and even the king was governed by those laws. But when Octavius got in charge, uniting the kingdom, he got the Senate to give him the title Augustus, which means sacred or one who is lifted up. 51:47 Promoting himself to be God and giving himself the title of emperor there for the Roman Empire, changing the government of Rome. And so he's promoting himself. He's saying, everybody, call me Augustus. Recognize me as God. And yet, how far was his influence? How many of us think about Caesar Augustus on a regular basis? 52:20 How well known is he? He's promoting himself. He's saying, hey, everybody recognize me as God. But he's basically unknown. We only know about him because he's in the story of the birth of Jesus. If he wasn't here in Luke chapter 2, he'd never even be brought up. No need to mention him at all. Who did more for the world, Caesar Augustus or Jesus? Well, of course, Jesus did. You see, we're getting a little bit of insight to how God works here. 52:57 Caesar Augustus who promotes himself and says, hey everybody, look at me, I'm wonderful, look at what I've done. His works, his name, not long lasting, not very effective. But Jesus, born in a cave. From the world's perspective, questionable parentage. 53:19 with Mary getting pregnant before they were actually married. Being from Galilee and Nazareth, those places had bad reputations. This obscure birth there in the middle of nowhere basically in Bethlehem, there in a manger. He came forth in great humility and yet the effects of his birth, the effects of his life have been incredibly long-lasting and eternally significant because that's the way that God works. 53:52 Paul talks about that in Philippians chapter 2, how Jesus humbled himself. He is God, but he humbled himself to the point that he was born of the Virgin Mary in a cave, laid in a manger, great humility. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, 54:20 that God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. And He's chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. And the base things of the world and the things which are despised, God has chosen. And the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. Listen, this is the way that God works. He uses the nothings. He uses the weak, the base things. 54:55 To put to shame the mighty and the strong. Jesus puts Caesar Augustus to shame. He came forth in humility. He came forth in weakness. He came forth in the lowest of ways. Jesus was born in humility. It didn't make him weak. It didn't make him insignificant. In fact, he had humbled himself to an incredible extent. Far greater than we are fully able to imagine. 55:28 to grasp hold of, being God and yet coming to earth in this way, in this capacity. To the same extent that he humbled himself, it's the same extent that he has been glorified and been given a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow. And so Jesus came forth in humility that he might be exalted above every knee. This is the way that God works. 56:03 And so here we have in Luke chapter 2 verses 1 through 7 the birth story of Jesus. Probably a little bit different perspective than you're used to thinking about it or hearing about it. But what we have is God at work making the final preparations for Jesus' birth. The prophecies are fulfilled as He comes forth into the earth right at His birth. And then later on in His life He goes on to fulfill many more prophecies. But here we see He's born in humility. 56:33 This is our Savior. This is the one who died upon the cross for us. God orchestrated it. He put it together. We can be sure about it. It's not a guess. It's not a hope. It's not a chance. It's the reality. Jesus Christ is our Savior. And it's because of Him that we have the hope of eternity. And that is a wonderful reason to worship Him. And so Katie's going to come back up and lead us in a song. 57:03 I want to encourage you, let's worship Jesus together. He's the Messiah. He's the Savior. He came in humility and that's why He's worthy of all of our worship and praise. Let's worship Him together and then after the song, you'll be dismissed. There'll be people up here if you need prayer, if you need to get right with God, we'd love to help you do that. We'll be up here and available for you. But first, let's worship the Lord together. 57:42 We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.