Pastor Tolan Morgan - The Scandal That Saved The World!

[Music] matthew chapter number one [Music] and it is there that the holy spirit has highlighted for us this context of scripture beginning with verse number 18. the gospel of matthew chapter 1 beginning with verse number 18. the bible should read now the birth of jesus christ was on this wise when as his mother mary was espoused to joseph before they came together she was found with child of the holy ghost then joseph her husband being a just man 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 you son of david do not fear to take unto you marry your wife for that which is conceived in her is of the holy ghost and she shall bring forth a son [Music] and you shall call his name jesus [Music] for he shall save his people from their sins 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 and shall bring forth a son and they shall call him his name emmanuel which being interpreted is god with us then joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the lord had been him and took unto him his wife and did not know her until she had brought for forth her firstborn son and he called his name jesus [Music] i want to tag this text the scandal that saves the world the scandal that saved the world the late doctor frederick sampson pastor of the tabernacle baptist church in detroit well-known respected theologian in the lord's church once told a story about when he was walking the beach and notice that there was a bird trying and struggling to fly but that bird could not fly because there was some type of string or wire wrapped around the bird's leg and that wire somehow either by its weight or by its impression into the skin of the bird's leg was impeding the bird's ability to fly out of compassion dr samson walked towards this bird and every time he walked towards the bird the bird would run away when he noticed that the bird had sort of settled down he made a second attempt to walk towards this bird as the bird noticed his presence drawing near he again would run away he made a third attempt after he noticed that the bird had settled down and once again the bird was threatened by his presence and the bird ran away it was in that moment dr samson said to himself that he wished that he could speak seagull and if he was able to speak seagull he would have informed that bird that i'm coming to you not to hurt you but to help you to be freed from that which will not allow you to fly and ladies and gentlemen that's what happened on christmas morning god had made several attempts to come near us and we kept running from him but on christmas morning was the first time god spoke seagull in other words it was the first time that god spoke human to give us a message that he is not necessarily coming to kill us he's not coming to hurt us he's coming to save us so that we could have the ability to fly that christmas morning as we celebrate it each year is a reminder of when god became human when god spoke like us lived like us eight like us slept like us suffered like us felt like us for the sole purpose of coming to save us from our sins of the four gospel biographies only three of them convey a record of christ's entry into time his entry into earth only matthew luke and john give us some [Music] account of his entry out of eternity into time john conveys the entry from god's perspective in john chapter 1 he says in the beginning was the word the word was with god and the word was god john 1 14 says and that word became the flesh and dwelt among us it was john's theme and thesis to present the lord jesus as god and in doing so he could not start with mary's wound because god in his essence was never born he is an eternal god he never stops living because he never started living he always was he is and he always will be that doesn't say that john ignored or thought mary was pointless and purposeless but he's discussing his entrance into time from god's perspective luke discusses christ's entry into time from mary's perspective in luke chapter one it records that moment where mary this teenage jewish girl got a visitation from the angel gabriel announcing number one she was the recipient of god's favor chosen to give birth to god the son [Music] but matthew ladies and gentlemen conveys the story from joseph's perspective how beautiful and how intentional it is that these three gospels in particular convey the story by the three parties involved in this incarnation god joseph and mary john talks about it from god's perspective luke talks about it from mary's perspective but matthew discusses it from joseph's perspective and what you and i read in our hearing today is not the actual time when jesus was born the actual birth of jesus is recorded in luke chapter 2 verse 7. but this what you and i read is what led up to jesus birth from joseph's perspective and thus it presents to us some thematic thesis that we need to give attention to today that serves as the foundation and point of this little easter speech and it is simply this joseph teaches us that god doesn't just choose the lead actor he also chooses the supporting cast might i suggest to you ladies and gentlemen that be not distracted by just paying attention to the focal person pay attention to who's around the focal people person joseph's message to us is simply this the supporting cast has to be chosen just like the lead actor has to be chosen i think already in this little scattered remarks you ought to be alerted to the simple question did god choose who's around me did god choose my friends or did i choose my friends did god choose my spouse or did i choose my spouse did god put me in this church or did i choose [Music] [Applause] to be in this church did god place me in this job or did i choose to be in this job because ladies and gentlemen i want to inform you that there's something more important than accessibility and it is compatibility you see if your life has been somehow sanctioned and purposed by god for some different assignment god doesn't just choose you he chooses who's around you i wish i had a church in here god god is not just interested in you knowing your purpose but god is interested and in putting you around people who fit your purpose and maybe if we be honest many of us have had personal social relational issues because we've been connected with people that god didn't choose joseph's message to us is that it's not just important who the lead actor is it's also important who the support and cast is and god is just as involved in the supporting cast as he is in the lead actor might you peek your face in this pericope and share this scattered remarks on this little situation that we have here because joseph's perspective is intrical let me see if i can put some more meat on this bone if you if you if you if you peek in verse 16 and 17 you'll discover that when we when we read the entire chapter of matthew matthew chapter 1 when we read the entire chapter all of these 25 verses they're really broken into two categories verses 1 through 17 delineates and documents the genealogy of jesus verses 18 through 25 what you and i read record not the birth of jesus but the conception of jesus you'll discover church that something interesting happens when god decided to borrow mary's wound he could have just appeared but he chose her he chose her wound to go through the nine-month process of gestation and to be born like every other human being is to be born but the genealogy in verses 1 through 17 give us an introduction lord have mercy into verses 18 through 25 if you skim through verses 1 through 17 you'll discover that there were men be getting children for 17 verses it says some man beget some child and the child that was beget was male 1 suggests that this this record of genealogy was androgynous because it focused on male production and male regeneration unfortunately it was a genealogy that was present of men be getting children with the absence of the mothers unfortunately it was a genealogy that left out the role and presence of the mothers as though these men birthed men you and i both know that that's not biologically possible so the genealogy presents men begetting children in the absence of the mothers until we get to joseph until we get to jesus and it presents the mother giving birth to a son with the absence of a father i'll try one more time because you missed it the genealogy ladies and gentlemen presents men be getting children in the absence of the mother until we get to jesus it presents a woman giving birth to a son in the absence of a father and that presents to us two significant matters first of all it says to us that when jesus entered into mary's womb through the agency of the holy ghost he was conceived in her by the holy ghost it spoke first of all to a change from the past the past said that it only gave recognition to these men who couldn't give birth to children but now when jesus steps on the scene it's a change from the past and it recognizes this woman who gives birth to a child without the agency of the father that's the first lesson we need to grasp from this text today and it simply is this that when jesus enters your life you can't change your past you can only change from the past jesus steps into the pages of human history and alters what had been historically done speaks to us church that if any man be in christ he is a new creature all things are passed away and behold all things they've become new jesus is not coming into your life to change your past jesus is coming into your life to change you from your past let me give it to you this way uh you have already done what you did but you don't have to keep doing what you've already done jesus christ steps on the pages of our lives to give us a new direction and a new future but it also says church that since the genealogy represented this altercation of just acknowledging these men without acknowledging the mothers jesus says i'm going to borrow this woman's wound i'm going to be conceived and heard by the holy spirit and it will not be through the human participation of a man which says church that jesus birth was not a miracle it was jesus conception that was the miracle his birth was normal nine months later it was the conception that was the miracle which teaches us something church about miracles it teaches us church that you are eligible for a miracle if you've got some missing pieces in your life ladies and gentlemen according to biological law it takes a man and a woman to engage in sexual intercourse to initiate conception but in this case it was a woman without a man there was a missing piece and god stepped in to make up the difference of a missing piece might i suggest to you church that if you've got some missing pieces in your life you are grounds for god to step in and do something miraculous in your life you need not complain about missing pieces because missing pieces are the very thing that god doesn't want there so that he can step in and do something supernatural there's a change from the past and it was seeing church it just makes sense it just makes sense for this to happen the reason why it makes sense for it to happen is because when jesus was in eternity his existence in eternity was without the procreative participation of a mother so therefore it makes sense that his existence in time is without the procreative participation of a father let me give it to you again you missed it god in christ existed in eternity without having to be born and therefore if he's going to exist in time he doesn't need our processes in order to exist because he existed in eternity without a mother and therefore he can exist in time without a father it suggests that whichever realm you put him in there is something supernatural and divine about god's existence because if god is going to exist nobody can take credit for his existence either in time or in eternity nobody can take credit for his existence this was a change from the past but this lesson also teaches us something interesting and it's from joseph's perspective would y'all would y'all see this text in its reality um according to the jewish laws of betrothal the text says they were espoused to be married did y'all see that word in verse 18 tex says they were espoused to be married it is our equivalent of being engaged they had not consummated or consecrated their marriage completely so according to jewish laws ladies and gentlemen the difference was a jewish betrothal or a jewish engagement was legally binding it was legally binding so they were recognized as husband and wife while they were engaged to be married but they could not live together until after their wedding and during their engagement though they were recognized as husband and wife the wife had to remain at her father's house and once the marriage was completed the sign that the marriage would now be uh officially fulfilled was that the husband had to go to the father's house get his wife take her to an official ceremony which would be the wedding ceremony and then she could go home to her husband's house that's the that's the that's the jewish legal side of this story that's why in the text joseph and mary are recognized as husband and wife though they are engaged they're still called husband and wife this is a legally binding engagement and they did not live together watch this for the sake of not having sex before they got married since y'all acting slow in here let me see if this is a problem you telling me that you still popped up pregnant after we have been legally binding to this to this engagement for the sole purpose of this not happening and the very thing we've made arrangements not to happen has happened anyway [Applause] who have you been tipping with i've been at the crib waiting on you to get married and you pop up pregnant anyway the worst part y'all is not that the girl is pregnant the worst part is her reason now you tell me not only are you pregnant but a ghost got you pregnant there's some foolishness see y'all see you spiritual people mad at joseph but from a man's perspective he had the right response okay yeah yeah you you go get married you go get engaged and your old lady come tell you you know i'm pregnant huh and a ghost did it what joseph joseph is having the right response because now this is a scandal waiting to happen lord have mercy today you you you try and tell me wait a minute wait a minute now uh this this girl is engaged to be married she's from a legally s perspective she's already a man's wife uh so technically she did not get pregnant out of wedlock she got pregnant in wedlock so this isn't a single mother perspective from our perspective this is actually adultery lord have mercy today when we study this text from its legal standpoint this is not just fornication with an unwedded woman because she technically is a man's wife this is adultery see ladies and gentlemen one of the things we have to understand when you read the scriptures you can't read the scriptures and try to sanitize it at the same time the scriptures are sometimes dirty they they they are sometimes what they are they are not spiritual all the time they are not super deep they are in their reality scandalous the bible is full of real people who had real issues who had real sins and god still used them anyway i thought you'd get happy about that because that means god makes you and i eligible we are real people with real challenges in real sin but god still uses us for his glory this is a scandal this woman is she's somebody's wife she's she she's she's technically already somebody's wife the only thing she did was stay at her daddy's house to keep this from happening before they became or completed the marriage and here's the turning point i know you're not gonna receive this but god intervened in the scandal because god calls the scandal okay god knew that these two were espoused to each other and he sent the holy ghost to impregnate another man's wife this ain't mary's fault this is not joseph's fault this is the lord's doing the lord did this i know this is controversial for you but you'll be all right in a second the lord did this the text the text says the angel visited joseph and told joe hey man marry mary because what's in her is conceived of the holy ghost this is god's doing how do you handle life when people view your miracle as a scandal what do you do when god is doing something great that the world has already said is unacceptable church all i can tell you is his ways are above our ways and his thoughts are above our thoughts but i want to present to you another perspective on this that we might consider to aggravate your nerves for the rest of the week come here come here it's in verse 16 and 17 if you got a real bible and you like it and can read it the text says that the last person mentioned in these 42 generations of genealogy was joseph it's in verse 16 and 17 i didn't make it up jacob begot joseph the husband of mary who brought forth jesus the christ you all ready i'mma try to say this slow because it woe me out this week trying to get it together uh i want to argue brent gibson that joseph being in the lineage of david was a member of the royal family because he's traced back to david which means god's options of women to choose to come into the world had to be a woman a royal man had already chosen to make sure that the prophecy came true that the messiah would be of the line of david so it's possible y'all that god chose mary joseph because you chose her [Music] it's possible in order to make sure that jesus fit the royal lineage he chose a woman one of the royal men chose lord have mercy you had already picked her to be your wife so god chose her and you chose her so you can't let her go just cause god chose who you chose you see ladies and gentlemen sometimes when you mess around and pick who god chose god has to fit you for who you chose that god chose i knew you weren't going to say nothing i knew you weren't going to say nothing you didn't come to think today you want to just shout but let me just help you ladies and gentlemen if god chose you god got to choose the people who chose you if god chose you god got to make sure the right people around you had been fitted because you chose who god chose how is it that you say you've been anointed and you just got any kind of friends how is it that you say you've been called of god and you keep any kind of company who i'm preaching good and here to myself you see ladies and gentlemen when you mess around and open your mouth and say you've been called then god has to now choose who you pick as your friends your spouse your loved ones cause cold people can't hang with just anybody [Music] joe you chose who god chose so now god got to choose you and he's got to work on you now so we see in the text that joseph is important because it wasn't mary's assignment to make sure that jesus fit the royal lineage it was joseph's assignment because joseph now has got to make sure that jesus is his that now fits the royal lineage so that the prophecy can be fulfilled that jesus is the messiah out of the line of david that wasn't going to come through mary that was going to come through joseph and so the angel visits joseph and tells joseph a couple things number one he said marry mary don't divorce her he's contemplating divorcing her text says he put her away prior that word means to divorce her privately because they're legally binding now their engagement was legally binding this wasn't just i'ma give you a ring and we just gonna commit together verbally no this was legally binding documented so that legally binding document could end through death or divorce he was contemplating to divorce her privately catch joseph because he didn't want to make a public shame out of her look at that church he's caught between love and the law he loves her so much he doesn't want to make a public shame out of her but at the same time he's angry with her because it appears she has violated their marital bond law legitimized his anger and love legitimized his affection what do you do when you're caught between love and the law y'all want to hear y'all want to answer come here you got to have divine intervention lord i wish i had some help here the text says the angel of the lord visited joseph in a dream i'm mad at you enough to let you go but i love you enough i don't want to let you go and i've got a right to both of them what do i do the bible says i'm not going to leave it up to you i'm coming to you to tell you joseph what is being done to your wife i did it to her so therefore stay with her and don't leave her y'all ready ladies and gentlemen god simply tells joseph hey man i know you angry because i have impeded what you thought ought not to happen but sir you cannot miss the opportunity to marry a woman who's got jesus on the inside of her you cannot miss the opportunity to marry a woman who's been intimate with the holy ghost preaching here told morgan i want to challenge somebody don't just marry them because they fine and they nice to look at and they got money you need to marry somebody that's with all that too you need to marry somebody who's been intimate with the holy ghost and got jesus on the inside after i get past looking at you after i get past liking to look at you every day after i get past the fact that you can provide i need to know do you got the holy ghost and do you got jesus on the inside of you you say hold on now i know i know you're upset but now i did that and this is your opportunity to be in the house with somebody who's got jesus on the inside of him and somebody who's been intimate with the holy spirit he said no stay with him and listen i need to talk to you joseph about your wife this is somebody's point you can do what you what you want to do with it but jesus is on the inside of mary and did y'all notice mary never convinced joseph to stay with her [Music] lord y'all bothering my nerves today uh it wasn't mary's job to convince joseph to stay with her it was god's job to convince joseph to stay with her you see ladies and gentlemen when god is doing something great in your life you are not the only person he's spoken to about it he has spoken to somebody else to confirm what he's doing in your life therefore you do not have to convince people to believe what god is doing in your life because god's going to tell somebody else that he already has a sign to your life that that that he's doing something great in your life and they will be convinced not because of what you said but because of what god said that's important for you to understand because that was somebody's word that you just got delivered from trying to convince people of what god is doing in your life god knows everybody's phone number he knows how to reach people who are meant to be a part of what he is doing in your life that angel went to joseph in a dream and said man stay with her here's why because she shall bring forth a son and he shall save his people from their sins that is the exact same thing that gabriel told mary in luke chapter 1 verses 30 and 31 mary the favor of god is on you and you shall bring forth a son and they shall call him emmanuel and he shall save his people from their sins what the angel told joseph in matthew 1 is the exact same thing that the angel told mary in luke 1. you see church you want to have people around you who confirm you because god has spoken to them not cause you have spoken to them you want to have people in your life who can confirm you because they've gotten revelation about what god is doing in your life that you didn't have to tell them that's what confirmation is about confirmation is god speaking to somebody else what he's already spoken to you but they were not at the first meeting that's how you know it's from god let god send a word of confirmation in your life so he stays with the bible says he wakes up out of this dream this is a scandal y'all this could have gotten really really ugly this this this is this is like a reality show kind of thing going on this this is a mess getting ready to happen and god steps in and and speaks to all parties involved and say this is the will of god for your life joseph i need you to stay here because you are going to confirm that christ is of the royal lenny it's marriage mary you stay where you are because you are going to give birth to the savior of the world here's my last point i'm done did you notice mary gave birth to jesus absent of the procreative participation of a man and who she gave birth to [Music] was only born to save us from our sins now ladies and gentlemen from a biological standpoint the virgin birth makes sense because if jesus was to save us from our sins he had to be a lamb without spot or blemish and he couldn't have any sin in him if he was going to save us from our sin so it makes sense that joseph could not have impregnated mary with jesus because that meant now that jesus would have been born in sin shaped into iniquity and the transfer of sin would have been from one generation to the next and therefore it would have disqualified jesus from dying for our sins so god eliminated joseph from the procreative process to keep sin from being in the being of jesus but he also borrowed mary's wound to make sure that the blood of both her and mary don't mix because if they did now he is ineligible to die for our sins and all that means church is that christmas was all about calvary christmas had calvary in mind from the beginning and i need to make sure that you understand that because this is not an isolated event this is necessary to make jesus eligible to die for our sins so here it is church jesus was born with none of it so he could die for all of it you didn't hear me so let me say it again what you say i said jesus was born with none of it so he could die for all of it for he who knew no sin became seen that we may become the righteousness of god he became sin without ever committing sin and the and the virgin birth made calvary possible therefore here's what this means i'm done it means sometimes church god has to eliminate you from the process so he can save you by the process preach it here told morgan god had to take joseph out of the process so that jesus could die for his sins and save him from the process ladies and gentlemen the best thing god ever did for some of you was to take you out of the situation so that he could save you from the situation thank god he knows how to take you out of it so that he can bless you from it and the good news is i'm in verse 25 this is the bible says he did not he woke up out of his dream verse 24 he woke up out of his dream he did what the lord told him to do he took mary now we know what that means it doesn't mean he just had sex with her it means after the nine months he went to her daddy's house and took her out of her daddy's house went and had the wedding ceremony and then took her to his house as the lord had told her told him to do verse 25 blesses me and says and he did not touch her he did not have sex with her until she gave birth until after she gave birth to jesus did y'all hear that he did not have sex with her until after she gave birth to jesus and we know from the gospel writings they went on to have more children jesus had brothers and sisters well joseph why did you do that man you understand you've had this vision from the lord the lord didn't specifically tell you not to do that that's something you chose to do well church it just makes sense because it proved his conviction and his acceptance of what god had revealed to him in the dream and he resolved the way that i am going to show god that i submit to his plan for me and my wife is that i am not going to allow my flesh to get in the way of god's plan i am going to restrict my flesh as a sign that i am complying with god's plan check out the beautiful the beautiful uh uh uh paradox of this passage mary gave her flesh over to god that he may be brought into the world but joseph restricted his flesh that he may be brought into the world can i tell you something church here's the question for us what's your role in god's plan have you been called to render something or restrict something lord help your boy preaching here today have you been called to give something over to god or have you been called to hold something back for god's glory so that god's plan will be manifested in your life whichever one it is know that it's in god's will and that god doesn't have the same role for everybody but when you play your role in god's plan god's plan will bless your life if you cooperate with god's plan this was getting ready to be a real bad scandal to break out but god intervened spoke to both parties involved and now she brings forth the savior of the world let me close by telling you his birth was scandalous he was born under these challenging social conditions his life was scandalous for much of jesus life he was recognized as an enemy of the state who was a threat to the government his death was scandalous because they had already declared him innocent and they still killed him and lynched him as a guilty man after they had made it public in the courts that he was an innocent man his resurrection was scandalous because the morning he rose at the end of matthew 26 27 and 28. pilot had decided that when the soldiers came back to say that his body was gone they had concocted a conspiracy to say to tell the people the jews came and stole the body overnight his birth was scandalous his life was scandalous his death was scandalous his resurrection was scandalous and despite all the scandal that surrounded his life he still saved the world ladies and gentlemen i don't care what nobody say about you you will fulfill god's purpose on your life no matter what lies people tell no matter how they try to sabotage your integrity no matter how they try to ruin your reputation you will do what god has assigned for you to do scandal or not thank god he knows how to bring something good out of a scandalous situation father we give you glory now and we thank you for your word we lift up your word now we lift up your people we pray now that your word will become flesh and dwell among us thank you for sending the savior to save us from our sins thank you calling and choosing mary thank you for how you use joseph to confirm the royal lineage thank you that all pieces of the puzzle of your plan always works out for your good for your glory and for our good god i pray that somebody hearing this word that is in an uncomfortable place of life a tense place of life a troubled place of life will find consolation in the fact that you know how to bring good out of scandalous situations now god get the glory out of all of our lives in jesus name amen

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Keywords: Tolan Morgan, Tolan Morgan Preaching, Pastor Tolan Morgan, Tolan Morgan 2020, Rev. Tolan Morgan, Dr. Tolan Morgan, Fellowship Bible Baptist Church, Warner Robins GA, Black Churches, Black Pastors, Scandal, The Scandal That Saved The World, Preaching, Holy Bible, Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Christmas

Id: Vzgka3EltQU

Length: 53min 6sec (3186 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 29 2020