welcome to this episode of real Christianity my name is Dale Partridge reach week I offer 15 to 20-minute answers to tough the illogical and pastoral question this is 100% listener supported audio Ministry of relearn. Org and for those who don't know our mission a tree learn.org is to educate and equip ordinary Christian to plant biblical confessional and missional house churches for more information just visit relearn. Org for cows
 okay so as we approach Christmas the focal point of the Season really is the Virgin birth of Christ many secular philosophers and cultic religious leaders deny the Virgin birth of Christ but why and why is that important what's at stake if Christ was not born by Divine conception well as we're going to see today if Jesus had a human father the entire gospel falls apart but before we dive in this discussion I like to just make one quick announcement and you guys probably know what it's going to be as I told you guys last week our goal for this month of December is to raise $20,000 it's now December 15th and we have raised $12,500 we're still in need of $7,500 thank you to everyone who donated last week your faithfulness
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 okay today's question is from Darlene in St Louis Missouri and she asks Pastor Dale I'm a little embarrassed to say this but I know the Virgin birth of Christ is critical to Christian theology but honestly I don't know why if a person asked me about a question about it I would be unprepared to give an accurate response can you help me understand this issue so that I can defend and explain it to anyone who may ask me yes I can do that thank you darling this is a great question thank you for writing in I can assure you that you're not alone in this insecurity unfortunately most Christians today have never been a theologically catechize were systematically trained in Christian doctrine and this is why we have such a Biblical and Theological illiterate church and in generation and it's why we need to be humble like Darlene I and admit that we just don't know about these issues that you
 I know we've been maybe professing the faith for several years or even a decade or more and it's time to start asking questions start studying so that we can be prepared to defend the Christian faith against those who come against it and so I'm going to start with a famous quote from a talk show host you guys have all heard of probably Larry King he wants said I would like to ask Jesus if he was indeed virgin born because the answer to that question would Define history while Mr King was right when he said that but why was he right why is the Virgin birth so critical to the God so hold on to your hats because this one's going to be a bit theologically heavy but I think you're going to be able to grasp this I really spend a lot of time on my notes trying to make sure that this would be comprehended so just stay with me here so we're going to start all the way back at the beginning because it's going to frame up some requirements of Jesus's a human fatherless
 so in Genesis chapter 2 God creates out of an even as you know in Genesis chapter 3 the enemy in the form of a serpent tempted Eve to disobey God's command of not eating from the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil and as you also know Eve succumb to the Temptation ate the forbidden fruit then gave it to Adam and he ate to okay the law of God In the Garden of Eden was broken and for the first time since I entered into the world the scripture say by way of Adam to send entered into the world and interesting Lee even though Eve committed the first sin the transgression was was attributed to Adam and because Adam was the one whom God delivered the command he was the responsible party for the crime okay so if you guys actually read Genesis chapter 2 you'll see that God actually gives this command
 to even creating Eve and he gives it to Adam alone he doesn't give Eve and Adam these directions simultaneously he gives them to Adam as the acting head ship or the husband in that relationship
 so this this experience here introduces to really critical doctrines and they are federal headship and the doctrine of original sin okay these are maybe some words that you're gone wild ale you're introducing some crazy stuff here no just pay attention cuz remember it Federal headship and the doctrine of original sin OK Federalism is the representative system that God has chosen to use over the entire human race another words God has given Humanity to Representatives throughout history Adam and Christ OK fully explained in the chapter of Romans 5 in for the sake of time and not going to read the entire chapter but I will read a good chunk of it verses 12 through 19
 so if you want to open up I'm going to be reading here in the ESV but go ahead if you wanted to find your Bible this is Romans chapter 5 and I'm going to be reading verses 12 through 19 it says therefore just as Sin came into the world through one man and death through sin and so death spread to all men because all had sinned for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given that is the law of Moses and Ten Commandments but sin is not counted where there is no law there was no law sin was it counted between Adam and Moses verse fourteen yet death reigned from Adam to Moses so even though there wasn't a law in place between Adam and Moses people were still dying
 as a result of their sin and it says so yet death reigned from Adam to Moses even over those who sitting was not like the transgression of Adam and they had their own sins not eating of the forbidden fruit who was a type of the one who was to come first 15th but the free gift that is the free gift of Grace he's talking about in contact the three kings the free gift and contrast to Adam he's talking about Christ the free gift is not like the trespass 1st for as many died through one man's trespass that's Adam much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ
 verse 16 and the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin Adam for the Judgment following one trespassed brought condemnation but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification does a big contrast between Adam and Christ the to representative heads between our over Humanity ever 17 4th because of one man's trespass death rained through that one man much more will those who receive the abundance of Grace in the free gift of righteousness rain in life through the one man Jesus Christ verse 18 therefore as one trespassed led to condemnation almond so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men for as by one man's Disobedience the many were made Sinners so
 by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous okay that is again you're seeing a contract between Adam and Christ Christ has also been called the second Adam right and so there's these two Federal head ships are at Federal head over us as Humanity okay so I'm going to explain this idea aw pink gives a bit of an explanation on this and I'm going to read it because I think it's helpful as an illustration to help you grasp what really has been said In this passage of scripture he gives a great easy illustration he writes God did not deal with mankind as with a field of corn where each stock stands up on its own individual route but he dealt with it as with a tree all the branches which have one common root and trunk if you strike
 with an ax the root of a tree the whole tree falls not only the trunk but also the branches and they all wither and die so it was when Adam fell God permitted say Satan to lay the axe at the root of the tree and when Adam fell all his posterity fell with him at one fatal stroke Adam was severed from communion with his maker and as a result death passed upon all men 1st Corinthians 15:20 to pulse for as in Adam all die so also in Christ will so also in Christ all will be made alive
 okay basically Darlene since I'm speaking to you hear Adam disobeyed God and threw his represented representation of the human race failed all of us and as a result Adams original sin has been imputed to us or been credited to us to all Humanity including you and I and again this doctrine of federalism and original sin can be confirmed in two ways
 first all of Adam's descendants are born with an intrinsic desire to sin and you may have heard it said we're not centered because we sin we sin because we're Sinners okay I'm going to say that one more time we're not Sinners because we sin we sin because we're Sinners what I mean by that is we don't become Sinners when we first commit a sin we commit sin because we're all born Sinners that's the first way to confirm that we have been infected with Adams original sin and the second way to confirm these two doctrines of again Federal head ships of federal representation and the doctrine of original sin meaning that we are born into a condition of sin sin is not just an act it's also a condition in which we are born Sinners okay so the second way to confirm it
 is to see that all Humanity has reaped the consequences of Adam's original sin which is death namely God said that if Adam was to eat the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden he would surely die okay this is why Romans 6:23 States the wages of sin is death okay and other words federalism and the doctrine of original sin
 if these were not true and we teach that we if you believed that we each had the free will to represent ourselves before God well if that was true you would expect that some humans throughout history would have had the self-determination to not commit sin and as a result restrained death
 but that's simply not the case okay and I think it's evident to anyone who is a parent that human beings do not need to be taught how to send it comes naturally and as a result all people die okay if if you still don't believe this doctrine that were all born Sinners you would expect against the wages of sin is death that infants who have not yet committed physical sins would not die but the truth is they do now I'm not saying that all who passed away in infancy go to hell that's an entirely different theological discussion but the only logical and sound conclusion for this discussion is that nobody is free of sin and as a result everybody dies so I'm going to give you another quote that I think it's very clarifying to what I'm trying to say and I
 Courtney you understand this is like Central Christian Gospel doctrine that you should know is it just for theologians the average Christian should be able to defend them themselves against a Critic of Christianity and so some of you guys have probably heard Tim challies he has a Blog called challies.com I think her. Org he's a prolific Pastor Theologian he's in Canada I actually just had a son pass away it was very sad but he wants wrote on the topic of federalism and I like what he said he said and I quote the teaching of scripture is clear
 even if I never committed a sin throughout my entire life I would still be justly condemned to hell because of the original sin of Adam this sin is imputed to me because Adam as representative of the human race send on my behalf we see the pervasiveness of this sin by the fact that Jesus had to be born of God rather than man for that is the only way he could be born freed from the burden of original sin as such he was pure not just an actions but also in his very nature Adam sin was not imputed to Jesus if we are to believe that Christ and as our representative in the act of redemption we must also believe that Adam stands as our representative
 in the act of becoming a fallen people and quote okay so I'm going to wrap this whole thing up you you heard the answer to your question they're darling I hope you caught that the answer is this
 if Christ was born
 of a man
 he would have been subjected to Adam's sin and infected with the disease of sin like the rest of mankind not for that reason Jesus would have been a sinner making him an imperfect sacrifice and he would have been unable to atone for our sins and would have remained dead after his crucifixion but as you know he did not remain dead and his resurrection validates my point okay if the wages of sin is death then Christ who was sinless couldn't remain dead in other words Christ had to be raised because he did not sin and because you did not send he was a perfect sacrifice meaning that he was pure even from birth okay that was the whole circle there so again hopefully you understand the concept of federalism or federal headship
 that we are all we all die in Adam's sin and that we are now all finding life in Christ righteousness it's a beautiful Doctrine and I actually am going to leave you guys with a few resources that will help you further your understanding on this topic and you can find them on the post page of this episode a tree learn.org this is titled what are we tired of this episode why the Virgin birth is vital to Salvation this is episode 124 and I have a few good resources the first one is an article and it's written by r.c. Sproul it'll probably take you maybe 20 minutes to read it but it's titled Adam's fall and mine lots of really great illustrations and explanations and scripture references to really support this doctrine of federalism and explain it in a way that
 you can comprehend it the second article is an article for pastors but I think you guys would benefit from it it's titled how to explain Covenant till headship to your church same kind of Doctrine this is an article on 9marks.org I thought it was helpful when there's an audio sermon by John MacArthur titled death through Adam life through Christ and hopefully that'll be a good resource for you as well alright so guys if you guys are a regular listener to this podcast thank you guys so much your loyalty does mean a lot if you guys are not like to review yet we always ask that you would leave a review you don't even need to write something but you can just tap the stars in the podcast app friend about our show I can't tell you guys if you just read the reviews of the show the Lord has used real Christianity and such an amazing way it's incredibly humbling of thousands upon thousands upon
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 thank you for listening to this episode of real Christianity if your regular listener to the show would you prepare fully consider making a donation to support our ministry efforts simply visit relearn. Org donate again that's relearn. Work for donate and for those looking to explore the idea of joining or planting a church in your home you can download our free pdf ebook title the basics of biblical Houston visiting relearn. Org for house last week do you have a theological question you would like answered on the show submit your question at relearn. Org forward slash question thanks for joining us on this episode of real Christianity we will see you next Wednesday