In this sermon, the preacher begins by emphasizing the importance of recognizing God's role in sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to redeem humanity. The preacher references Galatians 4:4, which states that God sent His Son at the appointed time to redeem those under the law. The sermon then shifts to discussing the messenger, Gabriel, who was sent by God to announce the coming of Jesus. The preacher highlights the significance of Jesus taking on the form of a servant, as mentioned in Philippians 2:5-7, to fulfill God's plan of salvation.

It is starting this evening, and you can see that I have entitled it, Following the Footsteps of Christ. We are going to shuffle the four Gospels into one, and we are going to follow every footstep that Christ made in the days of his flesh. We are going to go right through the land, very carefully, and mark every step, and see every spot where Christ visited, and at the same time hear everything, all the messages, and watch the miracles. Because this is not just to be a historical lesson, or a geographical lesson. Underneath it all, for believers all the time, the Master left us an example, that we should follow in his steps. And there is something that is spiritual, and real, and valuable for us, as we follow the footsteps of Christ. You can notice tonight on your notes, that we are following him from the Majesty on High, to the manger below. And of course I can appraise for you on this chart, or any other one, the Majesty on High, or the Eternal Son, in the bosom of the Eternal Father. But it will suffice for us if we listen to the Lord Jesus praying in John 17. Have a look at John 17 now. And the Lord Jesus is praying here. And he said this in the midst of this prayer, verse 5. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. You know, that would tell you that he was the Eternal Son. Because when he's praying, he's saying, O Father, and he's talking about the glory which I had with thee. Before the world was, before the hills in order stood, or earth received its train, way back there in that eternity of holiness, there was the Eternal Father and the Eternal Son. And Christ is praying about the glory which I had with thee. And so the hymn writer was perfectly right when he said, down from his glory. Every living story, my God, and Savior came, Jesus was his name. And we're just glancing back at that Majesty on High this evening, and we're tracing him from the Majesty on High to the manger below. Of course, you know, there's a lot of things that we must take into consideration. We must think about the love of God, because the great fact is that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. It was because of the love in the heart of the Eternal Father that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. And we must also take into consideration, in tracing these footsteps this evening, not only the love of the Father, but we must take into consideration the humility of the Son. Because he who was in the form of God, he was God the Son. He made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and being found in fashion as a man. He humbled himself. And we take into consideration the love of the Father and the humility of the Son. And we must also take into consideration the power of the Spirit. Because this mighty truth that we're going to study in a moment or two, the Incarnation, it was wrought out, you know, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And then you must take other factors into consideration, not only the love of the Father and the humility of the Son and the power and gumption of the Holy Ghost, but the readiness and the willingness of a virgin Mary. Because, you know, God just can't come around and take a wee girl and have her pregnant with child unless she's wholeheartedly in the thing, you know. Don't make any mistakes about that. God just won't do that. And we need the love of the Father, and we need the humility of Christ, and we need this power of the Spirit, and the readiness and willingness of Mary, and we need the obedience of Joseph. And just don't leave them out in the cold altogether. These are the great and tremendous factors that are all in the coming of Christ from the heights of glory to the manger of Bethlehem. We're beginning this evening by looking at the great God. Let's have a look at Galatians chapter 4, please. Galatians, and we're at the fourth chapter. Verse 4, for the sake of time. But when the fullness of the time was come, in one of these evenings we'll take time with that. God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the laws who redeemed them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And we'll just cut it short by saying God, in his great love for a world of sinners lost, God sent his Son. When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son. God sent the Master. That's what I have on the notes. And then let's go back to Luke's Gospel, chapter 1. Because in Bible readings, you know, we make the Bible do the work all the time. And we're at Luke's Gospel, chapter 1, verse 26. And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God. Gabriel, you know, was the great messenger who brought the message. And I think you've gotten simply and clearly that God sent the Master. And God sent this great messenger. His name is Gabriel, great shining angel. God sent Gabriel onto a city of Galilee named Nazareth. Now hold it there, and let's go to John's Gospel, chapter 1. John's Gospel, chapter 1. And verse 6 says, there was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness. And I think you can see these great truths just staring at you out of the page. It was God that sent the Master. It was God that sent the messenger. It was God that sent the man. John the Baptist was the man. He was the forerunner of Christ. Actually, he was six months older than Christ. And he came for a witness, and what a witness he was. I wonder, can we take time to look at some of the things he said? Verse 15. John 1, verse 15. John, bear witness of him, bear witness of Christ, and tried saying, This was he of whom I speak, he that cometh after me, is preserved before me, for he was before me. You see, John is witnessing to the eternality of Christ. John knew that away before the hills and all that stood, that he was in the bosom of the Father. He said, he was before me, I know I'm six months older, but he was before me. Down the chapter, when he was asked a question at verse 22, Then said they unto him, Who art thou? That we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord. You see, he knew who Christ was too. He didn't only know about his eternality, but he knew about his authority. He says, he's the Lord. The one that I'm going before is the Lord. And look again at verse 27. John speaking said, He it is who coming after me, is prepared before me, whose shoes latch it. I am not worthy to unless. You know, John didn't only know about his eternality, and his authority of the Lord, but he knew about his superiority. He said, you know, I'm not even worthy to stoop down and loose his shoes. See, verse 29, and we all seem to know this one. The next day, John, he of Jesus coming unto him and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. You see, John was a great witness. He knew about Christ's eternality. He was before me. He knew about Christ's authority. He says, he's the Lord. He knew about Christ's superiority. He said, you know, I'm not worthy to stoop down and loose his shoes. He knew about Christ's sufficiency. He's the Lamb, and he'll take away the sin of the world. See, verse 33, verse 32. John, bear record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. Thou knew it not, but he that sent me. It was God that sent him. He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining upon him. The same is he which baptizes with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bear record, that this is, quick now, the Son of God. That's his deity now we're at now. We'll come to that in a moment. Yes, God sent a man as a witness. And he knew about the eternality. And he knew about the authority and superiority. And he knew about the sufficiency and the deity of the one he came to witness for. We're just looking into heaven now, and we're seeing the great God. And he sent the Master when the fullness of the time has come. And he sent the messenger, Gabriel. And he sent a man, there was a man sent from God. But let's take a closer look at this messenger. Let's go back to Luke's Gospel. Chapter 1, please. And this is what I call the mighty messenger. And I've outlined little phrases on your notes, you should watch out for them. Thou art, thou hast, thou shalt, ye shall. Cause he knew everything about the Virgin Mary. And he knew everything about her son. Verse 26, we're at Luke's Gospel, chapter 1, verse 26. And in the six months the angel Gabriel was sent from God onto a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her and said, Hail, thou that art highly sacred. That's the first little phrase I have there at verse 28. Thou art, hail, thou that art highly sacred. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. And I think it would be good for Roman Catholics to remember exactly what the angel said. When he looked into Mary's eyes he said, Blessed art thou among women. Not about women, just among them. You're one of the blessed ones. So we can call her the blessed Virgin Mary without losing any face whatsoever. None at all. Because the angel called her blessed. And we'll find in a moment that she was a virgin and her name was Mary. And he went on to say this. You know, verse 29, we'll come back to it in a moment. When she saw him, she was troubled, I should say. I think if an angel appeared in the bedroom that evening, that she would be troubled. You'd hear the squeals of you all over the place. Some of you wouldn't have the power to squeal. You'd be under the blankets, cold out. Well, there was an angel came into this room, you know. Great shining angel. Mary was troubled. Verse 30, the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God. You see the thou art, and thou see that thou hast. Thou hast found favour with God. This was the vessel that God was choosing out of all the women in Israel. To do a mighty job for Him. And the angel is telling her so. Thou hast found favour with God. And he went on and said this. And behold, it's verse 31. Thou shalt conceive in thy womb. And bring forth a son. And take note of it that the angel knew the sex of the child before the child was ever conceived. I think I would be right in saying that gynecologists and obstetric surgeons could not do that. They wouldn't know the sex of a child before it was conceived. And I don't think they would know the sex of the child for a long time after it was conceived if they would know it at all. So you can see that this is all divine. This is God in on the job. And the fullness of the time has come. And God has sent His man and God has sent His messenger. And God's about to send the husband. And the messenger's talking of the woman whom God has chosen. And as he had said to her, Thou art, Thou hast, Thou shalt. Then he begins to talk about the child that would be born. There are five shalls here. Verse 32, you can't know them. He shall be great. And there's no doubt that that has been fulfilled. He's great, isn't He? He's our great high priest this evening. When He comes in the clouds and we see Him in His glory, we'll know that He's the great God. And our Savior. When He was raised from the dead, He was raised as the great shepherd of the sheep. Should I could go on all night talking to you about His greatness. He shall be great, the angel said. And shall be called the Son of the Highest. The Son of the Holy One is the correct translation. Yes, I think that's very wonderful, you know. What's this little bit? And the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David. And it didn't work out the first time when He came, did it? Oh, I know, we're going to look next week at the manger again, where He was born King of the Jews. Oh, I know He was the King. But I know they gave Him a cross instead of a throne. I know that they despised and rejected Him. I know He came unto His own, but His own received Him not. I know they spat upon Him. I know they tried to crucify Him. I know they shouted, we will not have this man reign over us. But don't think that the angel made a mistake, you know. For this same Jesus is coming back again. One of these nights He'll come to the air and call His waiting people home. For the moment it will be when He will shout and we'll rise to meet Him. And then this whole world will have a terrible time of tribulation. What a time they'll have. And at the end of the tribulation period, Christ will come again. This time not to the air, but to the earth. His feet shall stand in that place upon the Mount of Olives. Let me tell you this, He'll take the throne of His Father David. He'll do no mistakes about that, you know. This angel didn't make any mistakes. He didn't make a mistake when He said He shall be great. And He didn't make a mistake when He said He shall be called the Son of the Highest. And He hasn't made a mistake about the throne. Christ will take the throne. And look at this again, look at the Psalms, verse 32. 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. And He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever. Oh yes, He'll take the Jewish nation. And He'll make them the head of the nations. Because He's not only King, you know, He's King of Kings. And out of that millennial reign of His, He'll move these people into the eternal kingdom. And of His kingdom there shall be more. Oh, how much the angel knew. The angel knew everything about David. Thou art, Thou art, Thou shalt. He knew the whole story about this lass. But He knew everything about the Master too. He shall be great. Yes, He knew because He was sent from heaven. What a mighty messenger He was. Want to look now at the virgin vessel? Have a look at this very carefully now. Verse 26, we're back at the chapter again. And in the sixth month, that's the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy. That's where the date is coming from, letting us know that John the Baptist was six months older than the Lord Jesus. And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God onto the city of Galilee, named Nazareth. As we'll be stopping up in the map tonight, way up here at the white spot there is Nazareth. That's where the angel came to. Now, watch very carefully what it says. To a virgin, a spouse to a man whose name was Joseph. Now, that word virgin is a very extraordinary, particular, special Greek word. It's Parthenos. P-A-R-T-H-E-N-O-S. Parthenos. And for your information, it is fourteen times in the New Testament, so it's not a big problem, is it? The original word that God used was fourteen times in the New Testament. It's the word that the Spirit used. The Spirit gave this word, and the angel re-echoed it. And look, under inspiration penned it. You know, there's a lot of phony translations going about, and they think they're smart, you know. And they've taken this word virgin out, and they've put the word German. And we're going to find out this evening how serious that is. That's man trampering with the word of God. And that's man altering the truth of God. And you're not allowed to do that. You know, everybody in the world would know this. That a virgin is a girl. Everybody knows that. I wouldn't know that. But everybody that lives at all knows this. That every girl is not a virgin. So you must make a difference, you know. Don't be just trying to think you can swap over girl for virgin, because you can't. And you girls know this. Every virgin is a girl. That's quite simple. But every girl is not a virgin. I think you don't need to be hammered about with that. You see, God wasn't trying to describe the sex of this woman. God was trying to describe the sex of this woman. Sure, anybody would know that Mary's a girl. But God wasn't talking about her being a girl. God was talking about her being pure. He used a very special word. And you know these coming foxes, that's me in my calmest moments. I've got other things to say in a minute or two about these characters that interfere with God's word. And I'm very sorry to say that some of the badgers go around giving these damnable literature out. And if we caught you doing it in here, we'll pitch you out. Because I'll see you pitched out. Don't you think that we're standing up for the word of God and letting you trim it in the gutter? No. Because we have no more trouble doing that. We've rattled their leg a few. You'll stand up for God's word or you'll clear out. And you've got that straightened out. Because I will push that, you know. And the bad priests who have pitched this will not be here. No matter where they come from. I shall see to that soon. And that will mean some of my friends will not come back here. Amen. You will not be allowed to tamper with this scripture! You know, my friend, this is more serious than you think, but you're going to find out how serious it is now. You see the man that has taken this into hand? They have changed this word, Parthenos, which could only be rightfully translated virgin. And our old translators of the authorized version translated it 14 times by the word virgin. They wouldn't dare to alter it. And these boys have taken it out. And I'll show you one place they've made a complete mess of it. Well, I'll show you that and maybe you will be content with that. It's the Acts of the Apostles. And it's chapter 21. The Acts of the Apostles. Chapter 21. Now to see it's line verse 8. And the next day we that were of Paul's company departed and came on to Caesarea. And we entered into the house of Philip the Evangelist. You must always differentiate between the two Philips, Philip the Apostle and Philip the Evangelist, which was one of the seven deacons of Cross. And abode with him, he was meant to live with him. And the same man had four daughters, comma, virgins, comma, which is in prophecy. Meet me there for that, you know. Because these four girls have the gifts of prophecy. And people try to come down and argue with me that women can't say anything. It's a funny thing that God gave them the gifts of prophecy if you want to keep them quiet. You'd bother keeping them quiet without the gifts of prophecy. Well, these four daughters had gifts from God, prophecy. But you don't tell me you're keeping them quiet, do you? Of course, there was a time and place for them to prophesy. You see, when the church was gathered, women had to be silent in the church. And you make that differentiation, too. But I must not be taken upside down, is there? Or I'll miss what I'm after here. Now, it says in verse 9, And the same man, that Philip, had four daughters. And one of these silly translations has put in behind it here, girls. Well, my friend, I would know that four daughters are girls. I happen to know that. Like, I know I was born in the back of the young, but I do know that daughters are girls. Well, don't you see how silly it is? And how these men, in their madness to take away this wonderful truth, make absolute fools of themselves. Professing themselves to be wise. Translators, they call themselves. They become fools. They should go and write comic books. Look, you can see you can't change this word here. And the same man had four daughters. There's a comma there. The next word is describing their purity. Their virtues. You can't use any other word. No, we need to keep this, and we'll find out why we need to keep it just in a moment. Now, let's go back to Luke's Gospel, chapter 1. Hmm. I don't think we'll have any trouble about her purity. See verse 28? Verse 29? And when she saw him, when she saw the angel, she was troubled, I should say. Cast in her mind what manner of salutation they should be. I think in the word virgin you can see her purity. And God wants us to recognize this. I think in this verse, verse 29, you can see her timidity. She was troubled. She wasn't a bold girl. But when the angel said to her, Behold thou shalt come see thee in thy womb. Bring forth the Son. You can see her looking at the angel in verse 34. Then said Lizzie unto the angel, How shall this be? Seeing I know not a man. I remember being in Cheminger, up at Guelph, beyond Toronto there. I was preaching at the university there sometime. The lady who's here this evening was there too. And I remember an old modelist trying to argue with me about the value of Lizzie being a virgin. He didn't think it was very important, of course. And I said to him, Do you not think she was a virgin? He says, To me it doesn't matter. I said, I'm not asking you that. I'm asking you, do you not think she was? Oh, I said, I think she could have played around with a fellow or two before this. You know, you feel like emptying an old fellow out like that, you know. So I said, let's get the scene properly. There's an angel here, a shining angel, his name is Gabriel. And the young woman is trembling, she's troubled. And she looks into the angel's face and says, How can this be? She and I know not of man. You don't tell me that she was paralyzed by the angel, do you? Because I think that would settle it for anyone. A psychologist said once, To me, Dr. Emory was. He said, That settled it for me forever. A young woman in the kitchen alone with an angel? She wouldn't dare to bluff her way. Oh no, she wouldn't. I think that you can see her purity and you can see her timidity and you can see her honesty. And now we come to the crux of this thing. Verse 34, Then said Lily unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not of man? And the angel answered and said unto her, Watch this very carefully. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee. There shall also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Now let's get the Holy Ghost into perspective, because he's going to play a part here. And let's get the babe into perspective. Therefore also that holy thing. Let's get the Holy Ghost. And let's get the Holy Child into perspective. Now, before we get into the depths of that, let's go back to Matthew's Gospel. Chapter 1. And we're back at Matthew's Gospel, Chapter 1. Verse 18, Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise, when as his mother Mary was his spouse to Joseph, before they came together she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou 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, for he shall save his people from their sin. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child. Now that's what the Holy Book had said a way long ago. That was Isaiah. Let's go back and make sure of that. That's Isaiah chapter 7. The prophecy of Isaiah, and we're at chapter 7, verse 10. Moreover the Lord spake again unto Ahaz, saying, Ask me a sign of the Lord thy God. Ask it either in the depths or in the height above. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord. And he said, Here ye know, house of David, this is a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel. I put it up to the class, and I think you're all intelligent enough to know, that a girl having a baby would be no sign. I don't think there's anything sign-like about that. But a virgin conceived! That's a different thing, isn't it? There are doctors in this meeting. Bless them. So this was a sign, a virgin shall conceive. Now that's what the Holy Book said hundreds of years before Christ was born. And now the angel is telling Joseph, all this is done that this might be fulfilled. And we have seen now that Mary was a virgin. You know, this is a tremendous thing. That this honest and pure and holy girl, God wants to take her and so move upon her by the power of the Spirit that she's going to conceive in her womb while she's still a virgin. Now God has to ask her about this. He just can't throw her into this, you know. And you know when she heard the whole story and knew exactly what it would mean, this is what she said, and we're back at Luke's Gospel, chapter 1. And after the angel had explained everything that was going to happen, verse 38, Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word. You know, she's perfectly willing now. She's ready for the will of God. I think, you know, we might take just a breath there and try to capture this. You know what this is going to mean, Father, don't you? She was in love with a young man, in fact she was engaged to him. And when she goes around to tell him that she's pregnant, that she's going to have a child. Going to be misunderstood for a moment or two. Sometimes God may want you to go into the valley of misunderstanding. I wonder, are you prepared? Many hundreds of things I have done that my brethren don't understand. I don't give two hoots whether they understand or not. If I'm doing what God wants me to do. You know, if you just give yourself over to God, He's gone to use you, He's gone to make you, He's gone to take you to be into this valley where you'll be misunderstood by those who love you. I wonder, are we ready for it? I'll tell you, Mary was ready for it. Yes, I want you to get the hold of that. Now, the moment that she, she says, all right, this is what you want to do. Okay. Now, the Holy Ghost came upon her. One of two things we'll have to get very clear here because we're getting into the depths now. What's going on, but there's no hurry to that. I'm as fresh as a daisy. Got to take time with this. Let's go to Hebrews chapter 10. Letter to the Hebrews. And we're at this great 10th chapter. This is what Jesus said as he came into the world. Verse 5. Hebrews 10 verse 5. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not. All the old sacrifices of the old economy would never satisfy thee, Lord. But our body, thou hast not prepared me. Let's get the word body out and set it out on the throne. Let's get liar, liar. The great God. Let's get me out. This is the eternal son coming into the world. In the body. Has not prepared me. Let's go to Philippians chapter 2 for a moment. We'll knit all this together when we get there. Philippians chapter 2. Verse 5. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, it's hard to grasp that, you know, that's the way back in the glory again, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. It wasn't a thing he needed to steal. It was his. He was equal. But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. I want you to get that, you know. I want you to try to see a body has not prepared me. And I want you to see this phrase took upon him the form of a servant. Let's go to Hebrews chapter 2 now. Just knitting all these together in a moment, but we'll gather them up first. Verse 14. Hebrews 2 verse 14. For as much then of the children are protectors of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the faith. I want you to get this, you know, flesh and blood, he took part of the faith. Verse 16 says, For verily he took not on him the nature of angels, he took on him the seed of Abraham. I want you to get the hold of this holy thing just now. This holy thing. It's a tremendous phrase, isn't it? More holy than what you think it was. That's why the virgin breath is so important. You know, in my early days, I worked for ten years with one of the most able surgeons in the British Isles. In fact, was decorated by the Queen. He and I had read all times together. And he was very good to me, and I always think he was one of the best men that ever walked into life. And of course, being an able surgeon and had some great cases under his belt and had known lots of things, many surgeons and professors came to see him, and usually I had to take them down to the hospital in the car and take them into where he was and so on. And you know, there was a very clever and serious upstate surgeon called Ian McClure. And he's still around the Royal yet, I think he's a big noise there. I think he's reckoned as one of the greatest gynecologists in the land. And I had many times with him. He was very interested for some years in what is called pyramid pear trees. And in my early days I knew quite a lot about this. And that brought him every time, he came about the place down the garden. He'd say, Willie, how are you? And I would say, how are the trees doing? He'd say, you'll have to come and see. At an afternoon off, he'd ask the boss, will you come? I said, certainly. And many scores of times I went to the Malone Road, you know. He's got a big place down the Malone Road there. And I used to tell him things about these trees. And he had really some wonderful pear trees and the fruit was magnificent. But on one or two occasions he would always turn to my side of the subject. He was just like that. Are you preaching tonight, Willie? And I'd say, yes sir. And then he would say, are you preaching on tonight? And I was always anxious to get round to this, but on this particular occasion it was sold. I said, I'm preaching on the virgin birth. You ought to know a thing or two about that. He said, that's very interesting. Would you like to ask me some questions? I said, yes, I would. I said, you know, when a child is conceived in the womb and it's developed, is the blood in its veins its mother's or its father's? Oh, its father's, he said. I said, does the mother's blood mingle with the child's? No. I said, how is the child nourished and all? Well, he said, you know, there's what we call the process of osmosis, and the doctors will know this. It's just a thin membrane that comes between at a certain spot and fluids can pass from where blood fluids into the child, but there's no mingling. And this is exactly what I wanted him to say, and I led him on very carefully. I said, now, if this is true, Mr. McClure, and he was a professor, of course, I said, if there was no father, if Jesus Christ had no human father, where did he get his blood? And I can hear the old car slowing down. And down here he stopped. He said, that's my thing, isn't it? That's right, that's my thing. He said, do you know? Yes, I do. He said, well, you tell me. He said, I'll tell you. I said, you see, the blood that flowed in Christ's veins, while it was as much blood as my blood is blood, it was different blood. It was holy blood. That's what I heard from him. There was no sin in Christ's blood. When I pass my nectar on to my sons, sometimes I can see them doing things that I used to do, and they shouldn't be doing it. But there was no old nectar in Christ's blood. Let's get a hold of this tonight. It was precious blood. No taint or no spot in it here. Precious blood. And I'll tell you this, that while he took upon him flesh, there was no sin in it. This flesh and blood, this body and blood, it was holy. Don't you make any mistakes about that. Because it was that holy body that bare my sins in his own body, bare them away, so I'll never be found again. And it was that precious blood, said, I tell you, that met the requirements of the holy God on my behalf. Friend, if you don't hear yourself, you're going to do away with this. Do you see why we're so anxious in here, that you don't get off the rails? Old Leatherhead, you know him, do you? Leatherhead he is. Yes. He said this in a book, you all. He said that John the Baptist's father, Zacharias, shut Mary in the temple and kept her there until he made her pregnant. My dear friend, that's blasphemy of the deepest God. You see what this is doing, do you? Shall I say it over again to you? You see, this is making Mary a bad woman. She's praying in the back of the temple with another woman's husband. That makes her a bad woman. If old Zacharias is the father of the child, this has been covered in this book. Then it makes Christ a bastard. God don't blush, this is the word they use in the English language. When a child is produced and we don't know the father, they say it's a bastard. And if you make Mary a bad woman and Christ a bastard, then you make that book a liar. Because that book says that this was of the Holy Ghost. If you make Mary a bad woman and Christ a bastard and the book a liar, you make the cross a curse. We may shut this shop and put out the lights and go to hell. How dare you ever touch a thing like that? Some of you run and creep and abuzz and poke open your mouth sometimes. Or go and fish in old books out where they take away the virgin birth. Go home and flush. You know now what we mean, don't you? If I can tell you this, it's very important. This woman gave herself and the conception was wonderful. Let's have a look quickly at Hebrews chapter 2, at Luke's Gospel chapter 2. Because there's something here that's very touching and I'll do it quickly. Verse 1. Luke's Gospel 2, verse 1. It came to pass in those days that they went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should protect. You know who he was? He was the Roman governor. He was the Roman emperor, I should say. He was on the throne in Rome. And when Christ was born Rome, was ruling the world. And when Christ comes back to take her throne, she'll be ruling again. Whether we like it or not. You know Caesar Augustus just sends out his decree all the world shall be taxed. And what that meant in those days, it meant you had to go to your own city and sign your name. And it says here, verse 3, all went to be taxed, everyone into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea onto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be taxed with Myriad, the spouse-wife, being great with child. And you see this was the first part of the journey just now. You see this miraculous conception took place in that house. Now this man is sending out his decree. Now they could have come straight down the line there to Bethlehem. Only you see the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans and the Samaritans lay in between so they can't do it. So they got across the Jordan up there and if they came from Nazareth across the Jordan at the south of the sea of Galilee they were coming over onto what we now call the Syrian side to the Golan Heights. And then they came on down this side of the Jordan that we call the Syrian side. I can tell you it's a lost piece of land. I've been down there, you know. There's no motorway down there. And here's Mary, you see. She's great with children. I think that Joseph was a big enough gentleman to let her ride on the donkey. Sometimes when you go to Palestine you'll see the man riding on the donkey feet leaning almost on the floor and the woman's carrying a great load of stuff on her head. Mr. Ervin said to me when we were there he says I got married in the wrong land, you see. He says if I'd got married over here she'd have to do all the work. Now I think that Joseph was big enough to let her ride the donkey. I'm sure, you know, that when the decree went out that both Mary and Joseph looked at each other. She's about to have the baby. And you know, this has got all sorts of things. She's got to go about 78 miles by the way she had to go. You know, if you were expecting to have a baby in the bed soon you had to go 78 miles on the donkey. There would be no fun about it. None at all. And she'll be gone, you know. You see, this man took a woman. He just took a notion. He said, be honest with me. He says, I'll have everybody next. And God allowed him to have her. You see, while Mary was a great girl and Joseph was a great man you know, if they stay here much longer this child's going to be born in Bethlehem in Nazareth. But God has foretold that this child must be born in Bethlehem. So you can see that God's working things together now. He can take the notion of a man on the field a notion of a government. He can take the footsteps of a donkey and you can't rush the donkey. He can take the breast pains of a mother and he can soon work them all together. Then at the psychological moment she is on Bethlehem. It's very wonderful. You know, friend, God is working all things together still. Oh, the government of great notions today. And there's a thousand little details in our lives. But God is working all things together so that His word will be magnified in our lives. And they came to Bethlehem see verse 7 and she brought forth her firstborn son wrapped him in swaddling clothes which just means bits of cloth rags, actually. See, she had no clothes with her for the baby. Laid him in a manger. What a memorable manger it is. It's just on the line of word there. Her firstborn son. Roman churchman James that she never had any more children. For I can tell you, if that were true the Holy Ghost would have had enough sense to put in her only son. Now this was just her firstborn. We're going to learn that she had other children before we're through with these studies. Now we're at Bethlehem next week and we'll see the joy in Bethlehem and we'll see the Jesus of Bethlehem. Next week I think we'll sing what are we singing, Lauren? Yes, we're going to sing a Christmas carol. Number 30. Hark the herald angels sing Glory to the newborn King We'll sing the first and second verses only. Number 30 please. Hark the herald angels sing, yes? Glory to the newborn King Preaching on Made of a woman You can see there's depth that we need to touch and we'll do it then. Made to redeem. Second verse, please. Christ, my heart is ever adored I fear not this Lord Lord, put us in thy fear and with thy blessing and take us to our homes in safety Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.