Speaker 1: 0:06

Good morning. I invite you to open your Bibles to Matthew, chapter 1. This morning we're going to look during the season of Advent. We're going to look through the birth of Christ through the eyes of Joseph. If we wanted to look through the eyes of Mary, we'd go over to Luke's Gospel, but the next four weeks we're going to focus through the eyes of Mary. We'd go over to Luke's Gospel, but the next four weeks we're going to focus through the eyes of Joseph, so to speak. I'm going to look at the first half of chapter one this morning.

Speaker 1: 0:34

In Matthew's first chapter, some of you may remember some of you older saints a movie with Steve Martin in it where there was a guy named Navin and he got all excited because the new phone book came in. Do you remember that? And the new phone book comes in and Steve Martin, as only Steve Martin can do, was just all excited. He was screaming and yelling and jumping up and down on the sidewalk and screaming the new phone book's in, the new phone book's in. Of course we laugh because it's ridiculous. Who gets excited about a list of names? Right, and if we're not careful we may do that to genealogies in the Bible. But my goal this morning is to dispel that notion. There's gold in them hills. And I want to show you that in the genealogy of Matthew's gospel we see the good news of the gospel tucked away even here. There's a beauty to it, there's a glory to it, and we want to remember the Apostle Paul's words to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3, verse 16, that all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable. So with that, I want to invite you to stand and as you stand, I want you to notice there's three sections to this genealogy, and it is the inspired, inerrant, infallible word of the living God. Let us hear him by faith.

Speaker 1: 2:01

Verse one the book in the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac and Isaac. The father of Jacob and Jacob. The father of Judah and his brothers and Judah. The father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar and Perez. The father of Hezron and Hezron. The father of Ram and Ram. The father of Amminadab and Amminadab. The father of Nashan and Nashan. The father of Salmon and Salmon. The father of Boaz, by Rahab and Boaz. The father of Obed, by Ruth and Obed. The father of Jesse and Jesse.

Speaker 1: 2:38

The father of David, the king and David was the father of Solomon, by the wife of Uriah and Solomon, the father of Rehoboam and Rehoboam, the father of Abijah and Abijah, the father of Asaph and Asaph, the father of Jehoshaphat and Jehoshaphat, the father of Joram and Joram, the father of Uzziah and Uzziah, the father of Jotham and Jotham, the father of Ahaz and Ahaz, the father of Hezekiah and Hezekiah, the father of Manasseh and Manasseh, the father of Amos and Amos, the father of Josiah and Josiah, the father of Jeconiah and his brothers. At the time of the deportation to Babylon and after the deportation to Babylon, jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel and Shealtiel, the father of Zerubbabel and Zerubbabel, the father of Abaiud and Abaiud, the father of Eliakim and Eliakim, the father of Azor and Azor, the father of Zadok and Zadok, the father of Akeem and Akeem, the father of Eliud and Eliud, the father of Eleazar and Eleazar, the father of Matan and Matan, the father of Jacob and Jacob. The father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David were 14 generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon 14 generations. And from David to the deportation to Babylon, 14 generations. And from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ, 14 generations. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of the Lord endures forever. God's people said Amen, you may be seated. Thank you, father. It's a great privilege that we are able to come to your word. So send forth now your Holy Spirit and power and show us the glory of Christ in Jesus' name, amen.

Speaker 1: 4:30

I'm going to look at three things from this genealogy with you this morning. I'm going to spend almost all of my time on the first two, and the third point is really going to be a PS. I'm just going to spend a very brief amount of time on that. But the first thing I want you to see regarding this genealogy in Matthew's gospel is that it highlights the faithfulness of God and the messianic credentials of Jesus Christ. It highlights the faithfulness of God and, as it does that at the same time it highlights the messianic credentials of Jesus Christ, that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah. Look at verse 1.

Speaker 1: 5:03

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Well, it says here, as Caleb had mentioned in the call to generosity, jesus is the son of Abraham. Abraham lived over 4,000 years ago, almost 4,100 years ago from our perspective, but he was over 2,000 years before the time of Christ and God gave this Gentile Abraham. Abraham was a Gentile, he was from Ur of the Chaldees, which we would know later as the area of Babylon, or today it's in modern-day Iraq. He gave Abram or Abraham, he changed his name later this promise in Genesis, chapter 12, the first three verses, that fundamental promise is unfolded through the rest of the Bible. But in verse 3 of Genesis 12, at the end of his promise, he says this and in you, abram, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. In you, abraham, all the families or all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. In you, abraham, all the families or all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. And so, throughout the whole Old Testament period, the Old Covenant period, the Jews knew that the Messiah would be a son of Abraham, he would be a descendant or offspring of Abraham. And it's through this descendant that comes from Abraham that all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. Blessed with what? Blessed? With that same blessing of salvation that God had granted Abraham himself, that same salvation Not just for the Jews but for the whole world. And so Christmas is really all about all the nations of the earth being blessed with the salvation that comes through Jesus Christ, god's Son, who is also, humanly speaking, the Son of Abraham.

Speaker 1: 7:01

Now, when we go through the Old Testament, we see Christ like through a veil. We see Christ through a veil in many places. One of those places is Genesis, chapter 22. It's really a remarkable chapter. But Abraham is called to do the unthinkable. He's commanded by God to go sacrifice his beloved son Isaac, isaac the child of promise. Who can imagine, as a parent, such a command from God? It's almost unthinkable. But here we get an insight in Genesis 22 into the cost of our salvation in Genesis 22, into the cost of our salvation not simply to Christ, god the Son, but God the Father, through the eyes of Abraham.

Speaker 1: 7:52

As Abraham lifted up the knife to slaughter his son on Mount Moriah, the angel of the Lord commanded him do not lay a hand on the boy Isaac. And when Abraham lifted up his eyes, what did he see? We see in verse 13 of Genesis 22,. A ram was caught in a thicket by his horns. So then Abraham goes and takes that ram and he offers up that ram provided by God instead of his own son. And, of course, that ram is a picture of Christ. Abraham named the place Jehovah-Jireh the Lord, that is, the covenant Lord, will provide. And then that same angel called to Abraham a second time and he reaffirmed the promise that he had previously given. And in verse 18, this is what he says to Abram In your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. So he's reaffirming to Abraham, in the sacrifice that the Lord will provide Through you, in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, blessed with the salvation of God. And so Christmas is a time that calls us to think back 4,000 years and remember the words of Abraham the Lord will provide, the Lord will provide. He will provide a ram to be slaughtered for the sins of the world. And of course, that ram, metaphorically speaking, is going to be a descendant or a son of Abraham, and it's going to bless not just the Jews but all the families of the earth.

Speaker 1: 9:43

God's people had been waiting for 2,000 years at the time of Christ's birth. Over 2,000 years, all the way from the time of Abraham to the birth of Christ, waiting for this promise to be fulfilled. People may forget a promise they made this morning or last week or last year, but God fulfills all of His promises, aren't you glad? A day to Him is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day. God is always faithful. So Jesus is the son of Abraham. We see that here.

Speaker 1: 10:19

But he's also noticed in this first verse he's the son of David. In fact, matthew mentions David first, jesus Christ the Son of David. Because in Matthew's gospel he elevates Christ and emphasizes that David is the King. He's the King of Kings, and so God had promised to King David in 2 Samuel 7, verse 12, this it's about a thousand years before the coming of Christ. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish His kingdom. He shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of His kingdom forever. Now, if you unpack this a little bit and you begin to realize that this promise goes way beyond just that, god's going to do something through Solomon, king Solomon, david's son. This kingdom he's going to establish is going to be forever. And when you unpack the promise that he gives to David, it's going to establish is going to be forever. And when you unpack the promise that he gives to David, it's going to be a worldwide kingdom. So it's going to be an everlasting kingdom and it's going to be a worldwide kingdom. If you're a king, that's the kind of a promise you want to hear from God. Think about how short the kingdoms of this world are. They rise, they fall, they come and they go. But God says to King David oh, your kingdom, a descendant from your line, is going to sit on the throne forever and it's going to be a worldwide kingdom. That's a mammoth and mighty promise.

Speaker 1: 11:58

We hear the same promise sung about in Psalm 89, and you hear it echoed a few hundred years later in the prophet Isaiah, in the eighth century before Christ. Isaiah 9, verse 6, for to us a child is born, to us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, prince of Peace. And then Isaiah says of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end On the throne of David and over His kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore, and this is the part I love. Does it depend upon man to accomplish this? No, because then Isaiah says the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. God is going to establish this everlasting, worldwide kingdom on earth through a descendant of David and a descendant of Abraham. He promises to Abraham the Lord will provide. Here Isaiah realizes this promise to David. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. God is determined to set up his kingdom on earth. And when we pray the Lord's prayer, what do we pray? Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We're praying something that God has promised, and so this same one is spoken about in Isaiah, chapter 11, the first verse. Listen. A shoot from the stump of Jesse and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

Speaker 1: 13:44

See Jesse's, mentioned in Matthew 1, verse 6. You see that here Jesse is the father of King David. So he speaks, isaiah. He's a unique prophet because he foresaw if you know the Old Testament, there were two major exiles, one in the north and one in the south. The Assyrians came in and knocked out the northern ten tribes. The Babylonians came in 140, some years later, and knocked out the southern two tribes. Isaiah foresaw them both. He was prophesying right before the Assyrians came in the north. But he also saw 140 years later when the Babylonians would come in as well. And he speaks here as the stump of Jesse. Israel had been reduced to a stump, looked like it had been what's left when you cut down a tree A stump. After the exile, things looked bleak, they looked bad, but Christmas reminds us that the promise that God made to David a thousand years prior to Christ's birth has now been fulfilled. It's been fulfilled. The stump of Jesse, the son of David, is here to establish a worldwide and everlasting kingdom. That's why Christ came to establish it.

Speaker 1: 15:08

It's really remarkable when you think about things from an Old Testament saint's perspective, because after the exile, when the Babylonians came in in the south in about 586 BC, king Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians wiped out Jerusalem and destroyed Judah at large. The temple got wiped out. From that time on till the coming of Christ, there was no sitting king in Israel. There was no sitting king and people began to wonder has God forgotten his promise? You see, if God can break one promise, what good are the rest of them? It began to shake people's faith.

Speaker 1: 15:53

If you and I were waiting hundreds of years on a promise, we'd begin to wonder, I think, is God going to fulfill this promise? We begin to wonder, I think, is God going to fulfill this promise? So when we ponder the glory of God's Son coming wrapped in swaddling cloths and we hear the words the Son of David, there's a modern hymn Jesus, jesus, jesus. Let all heaven and earth proclaim. Kings and kingdoms will all pass away.

Speaker 1: 16:24

But there's something about that name. There is something about that name. There's something different about the name of Jesus. There's no one like him. He is not a son of David. He's the son of David, and it reminds us, just like the promise God gave to Abraham and the promise he gives here to David. We see it being fulfilled. God is faithful to all his promises. I wonder if you believe that this morning, one of the reasons we read this Bible is our faith needs to feed on the promises of God. That's how we stay strong. We feed on something in particular His promises. Yes, we need His commandments too, we need His warnings too, we need His wisdom too, but faith relies upon the promises of God and feeds on it, and that's how we gain our spiritual strength.

Speaker 1: 17:22

Christ, we see here reminded Christ was born in verse 12 after the deportation to Babylon. That was just a horrible time. You remember. They wiped out the temple when the Babylonians came in in 586. God sent the Babylonians in. They wiped out the temple, destroyed Jerusalem, and then, when they went in exile for 70 plus years and then they came out of exile and then they rebuilt the temple, but it was, from all outward appearances, looked quite pitiful compared to the temple in Solomon's day that the Babylonians had wiped out, looked like the glory days were over. Looked like the glory days were over. Looked like the glory days were over. This new temple didn't have the luster that the temple in the days of Solomon had.

Speaker 1: 18:12

We read about all that in Ezra and Nehemiah and the Old Testament. But we come then to the prophet, malachi, the last Old Testament prophet, and after Malachi preached there was 400 years of silence between the end of the old covenant prophets and the coming of Christ. 400 years, so you have almost 200 years without a king and an additional 400 years of prophetic silence. An additional 400 years without the king. So almost 600 years without a king and 400 years where no prophets. God, it's as if he quit speaking to His people and it's as if people began to wonder is there going to be a Davidic king? Do we have this promise from God that we can rely on? Has he forsaken us? Maybe we've really messed it up so bad he's decided not to fix it and Israel itself had been reduced to this little, podunk little province in the backwoods of the Roman Empire.

Speaker 1: 19:19

If you wanted to go someplace glorious and where all the glory days were, that was way over in Rome, israel's, in the backwoods of the Roman Empire. And you see, when you begin to doubt if God has broken his one promise, maybe none of them are any good. You could see how that would shake God's old covenant people. You could see how that would shake God's old covenant people. But it's remarkable when you get to the Gospels, what do you see? Over Luke's Gospel, there are two godly Jews that are very interesting Anna and Simeon, two elderly Jews. Anna would go to the temple every day and pray. Godly woman, even after hundreds of years, she still trusted in God's promise. Simeon, same thing. He was waiting. He was waiting on God to fulfill his promise and we just sang about it.

Speaker 1: 20:14

The hymn we just sang a few minutes ago O Come O Come, emmanuel is from the perspective of an old covenant person in exile. Listen, o come O come, emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel that mourns and lowly, exile here until the Son of God appear. Exile was representative of death, representative of being cut off from God. Representative of being cut off from God. O come thou, rod of Jesse, jesse being David's dad. O come thou, rod of Jesse, free thine own from Satan's tyranny, from depths of hell. Thy people save and give them victory over the grave. O come thou, key of David, come and open wide our heavenly home, make safe the way that leads on high and close that path to misery. Rejoice, rejoice. Emmanuel shall come to thee, o Israel, he shall come. God promised it. It will happen, and now we have the benefit of seeing that Christ has come. He's come. God is faithful to his promises. The rod of Jesse came, the son of David came, the son of Abraham came.

Speaker 1: 21:32

You have to remember, you and I both, when things look darkest and bleakest, it seems, throughout history, that's when God seems to delight to do his best work. Israel had been reduced almost to nothing and God shined the light in the darkness. Same thing happened in the Reformation, when the church was just a mess and God did a remarkable thing through the reformers of the 16th century. So just notice, with this genealogy, the first major point that highlights God's faithfulness and it clearly points to Jesus Christ and His messianic credentials as the son of David and the son of Abraham. Second thing I want you to notice is Matthew's genealogy reveals that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

Speaker 1: 22:25

If you had a scoundrel in your family, you're probably not going to go around telling everybody about it. The classic example of that as an American, you're probably not going to go around telling everybody about it. The classic example of that as an American, you're probably not going to go around saying you know my relative, my great relative is Benedict Arnold, you know one of the great traitors during the Revolutionary War. No, you're not going to say that. You're probably not going to go around and say you know, I'm related to that sex offender you know. You could think of multitudes of other examples where you just kind of want to keep it on the down low right. But look at who Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to identify with. Look at he's the sovereign Lord Himself. And he sovereignly chose to identify himself with his own in this genealogy and then publish it for all the world. And that's really remarkable.

Speaker 1: 23:24

When we begin to study this genealogy and look at the people who are in it, almost half roughly half of the kings listed in this genealogy are wicked men. Half of the kings listed in this genealogy are wicked men. Look at Jehoshaphat, it's puzzling. He's a good king but he begets a son, joram or Jehoram, an evil king. Or you look at Jotham, here in verse 9. He was a king who walked steadfastly with the Lord, we read in 2 Chronicles, but his son Ahaz was evil. And then you have Hezekiah, good king, but what about his son? Manasseh was the most wicked Judean king.

Speaker 1: 24:08

This genealogy reminds us of the depths of sin, the depths of sin. Even the good kings in this list had their sin. They may have had a heart for God, but they had their sin too. Even David, a man after God's own heart, the Bible says had his own sin problems. This genealogy longs for that greater king who is listed at the end of this genealogy, that sinless and perfect king.

Speaker 1: 24:39

And we're reminded from this genealogy how important it is that we disciple our children, that we raise them in the nurture and admonition of the faith that we pray with and for them, that we teach them the great hymns and songs of the faith and we live a godly example before them. Some of you know, some of you personally know, in this sanctuary here, the pain of a child or grandchild or more drifting away from the ways of the Lord. I want to encourage you this morning because Manasseh, the most wicked king in this list, he repented at the end of his life. A lot of damage done, but he repented at the end of his life. Aren't you glad to know that no one is beyond the reach of the saving love and grace of God? And that's what we see here and we're reminded of here. I have little doubt that there's some in this room that you're ashamed of some of the things that have gone on in your family, so ashamed in some cases you wouldn't tell other people those things. But I want you to take heart in this genealogy.

Speaker 1: 25:59

This is a portrait of dysfunction. Here's Jesus' family line, his ancestrycom. There's even perversion in this line. I mentioned the wicked kings. Let me give you some example from the perversion in this line. I mentioned the wicked kings.

Speaker 1: 26:14

Let me give you some example from the women listed in this genealogy. Of course you have Mary, the godly mother of Jesus, but let's consider the past of some of these other ladies. You have Tamar. You can read about her in Genesis 38. It's really a dicey story.

Speaker 1: 26:31

But to make a long story short, judah's two sons. They've failed to fulfill their old covenant duty to father the children of Tamar, whose husband had died, and Judah, the father of those sons, caused his last son to refuse to give Tamar any children. So how does Tamar handle this? Well, not very well. She goes into a mode of deception toward her father-in-law, judah. And what happens? She pretends to be a prostitute, tricking him into lying with her. They were both wrong, but she ended up with twins that are listed here in verse 3. Perez and Zerah, by Tamar. And then you have listed here as well Rahab, the former prostitute. And then you have, by the way, rahab's in verse 5. You can read about her in the early chapters of Joshua. Then you have here Ruth, the Moabitess. Ruth was King David's grandmother. Now, what about the Moabites? Ruth was a Moabitess.

Speaker 1: 27:39

The Moabites were despised by the Jews, in part because the Moabites came from as a result of Lot. Now, who's Lot? Lot was Abraham's nephew having a child with his oldest daughter. Lot had a child with his oldest daughter, lot had a child with his oldest daughter. So the Moabites were the product of incest. They weren't even allowed into the temple area along with the Ammonites. Neither one could go into the temple. You see that in Deuteronomy, chapter 23. But are you feeling better about your family yet?

Speaker 1: 28:19

Then there's the wife of Uriah, mentioned verse 6. We know her as beautiful Bathsheba, right? You can read about her in 2 Samuel 11 and 12. Here was a woman who committed adultery with King David. Now, king David abused his power as king and she obliged. But after King David got her pregnant, he ended up having Bathsheba's husband, uriah, killed. He was killed in battle by a scheme David had devised and she ended up marrying David and after their first son died, they went on and had another son named Solomon.

Speaker 1: 28:55

So what do we make of this? The Lord Jesus Christ sovereignly identifies himself in this genealogy with these deeply sinful and deceitful and hateful, even murderous, even perverted people, even murderous, even perverted people. We see illustrated in this genealogy the principle in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. For our sake, he made Him to be sin. Who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. For our sake he made Him. That is, for our, our sake. God made Christ to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in Him that is, when we believe in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

Speaker 1: 29:48

Remember when Jesus got criticized in the Gospels? He was hanging around, got criticized by the Pharisees. He was hanging around, got criticized by the Pharisees. He was hanging around with the sinners, tax collectors and drunkards. But he came for those who knew they were sick and needed a physician. He didn't come for those who were well, who think they're just fine.

Speaker 1: 30:10

I remember that book. It was back in the latter 70s, 80s, I think. It was around, still floating around in the 90s. I'm okay, you're okay. You remember that. Some of you remember that book. I've told my wife for a long time I want to write a book. I'm a mess, you're a mess, I think that's more like it. Christ came for those who are a mess, aren't you glad? So we see that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

Speaker 1: 30:44

I don't have time to flush out the third point in any detail, but I just want you to notice, if you go through this genealogy. Who are some of these people? And what you see is God using the weak, the outcasts and the ordinary to advance his kingdom on earth. That's the third point. I'll leave that to your own study. But even Joseph and Mary down in verse 16, they were poor. They were poor. We know that from the temple sacrifice. They gave Many unknowns. Here you see the same thing in Romans, chapter 16.

Speaker 1: 31:24

Paul lists all those people. Who are they? God knows? And he used the ordinary to advance his kingdom on earth. He uses people like us to advance his kingdom. He gives us the privilege to do the work for the king. I want to remind you this morning that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. If you don't know Christ, if you don't know the Lord, you trust him. He'll wipe away all of your sins, he'll grant you eternal life, give you his Holy Spirit to dwell within you and he will bring you home in the end, and in the meantime he will use you to build this eternal, worldwide kingdom that Christ came to establish. Let's pray.