Well, good morning. It's good to see you guys today.
I'm going to say something to you that you haven't heard in a
very long time. Please open your Bibles to
Matthew chapter 1. All right, Matthew chapter one,
First Corinthians is finished. We move on to a new book,
Matthew chapter 1. I want you to know that the New
Testament does open in what we might call a surprising way.
It's not with a miracle. It's not even with a parable.
It's not with an angelic moments.
It opens with a genealogy. A genealogy 17 verses of names.
Side note that I will struggle with.
All right, a few. But if you and I were writing a
biography of Jesus, you were tasked with writing a biography
of Jesus. I don't know that the first
thought we would have would be would be to say, let's make a
list of names. But Matthew does, because
Matthew wants you to understand something foundational before
you ever hear Jesus teach, before you hear about his
healings, before you see him speak.
Matthew wants you to know this, that Jesus Christ stands at the
end of a long line of God's unbreakable promises.
Jesus stands at the end of a long line of God's unbreakable
promises. Jesus doesn't arrive randomly.
He he doesn't appear suddenly out of nowhere.
His coming is the climax of centuries of covenant
faithfulness from God to his people.
And Matthew doesn't hide anything in the genealogy.
He he doesn't paint with a beautiful brush in this
genealogy. He does include heroes.
He includes kings, but he also includes sinners.
He includes outsiders. He includes the broken.
He he includes those who are morally.
Complicated, we might say. The Holy Spirit wants you to see
that the people Jesus came from are the very kind of people that
Jesus came for. His family line is full of
grace, full of grace because his mission is to bring, to bring
grace to his people. You might recall that John and
his gospel at the beginning of it says that Jesus came full of
grace that that he was, that in him we have grace upon.
Grace. So as we begin this new sermon
series through the Gospel of Matthew, I want you to know why
we're doing this. I want to know how we'll go
about it, how we're going to walk through this book together.
Matthew's Gospel is structured around the major movements of of
Jesus life and ministry. We'll see his arrival.
You see his baptism, you see his his baptism in preparation for
ministry. You see his Kingdom preaching,
his miracles, his parables, his passion, meaning his
crucifixion, and you see his resurrection.
And so we're going to follow Matthew's spirit inspired
structure as we walk through this verse by verse.
And that means that the larger series, if this works out right,
the larger series is going to unfold in several smaller
miniseries within the whole. OK.
So, for example, this opening section aligns with Advance
right as we consider Advent next week, the arrival of the king,
as Matthew considers the arrival of the king, Matthew gives us
movements like this. And so we'll turn to Advent next
week as we start our Christmas season together.
We'll walk through all of these movements with one another.
So with that in mind, our series is titled The King and His
Kingdom, Matthew, the Kingdom, the King and His Kingdom.
Now the theme that carries us through this series, every
chapter is going to be this Jesus is the promised king.
Sorry, Jesus, the promised king establishes his Kingdom through
his word, his works and his people.
All right, So Matthew wants us to see that Jesus not is not
merely A moral teacher. All right, we live in a world
today that likes to praise Jesus as he was a good moral teacher.
Matthew also wants you to see these, not just some other wise
rabbi. Of his day.
Matthew wants you to see that he's the long-awaited Messiah.
He's the son of David, the high King of heaven, who brings the
Kingdom of heaven to earth. That's what Matthew wants us to
understand in this Gospel. So Matthew shows us that this
Kingdom is established and expanded through the word Jesus
proclaims. We're going to see a lot of
Jesus's teachings in the Gospel of Matthew.
He also wants you to see that this Kingdom is established
through the work that Jesus accomplishes.
And finally, he wants you to see that this Kingdom is established
through the people that Jesus calls, forms, and sends.
So his word, his work, his people.
My prayer is that as we move through this slowly and
carefully, that you will see Jesus more clearly.
All right? And you might say, well, I grew
up in church. I know Jesus pretty clearly.
But I hope that all of us, whether we've served the Lord
for a really long time or brand new to the faith, that we can
see Christ more clearly through this.
Why do we want to see Christ more clearly?
So that we might love him more deeply, that we might follow him
more faithfully. And every page reveals his
authority, his compassion, his teaching, his sacrifice, and his
triumph. And so as we see those things,
it's my prayer that our desire for Christ, our affections for
Christ, grow immensely through the series.
So as we read the genealogy in a moment, we're not going to skim
it, which is what we might be prone to do in our Bible reading
plans, right? As we read through the Word,
we're not going to turn it out. We're going to ask the Lord to
help us see his faithfulness through every generation,
leading finally and fully to Jesus Christ.
So if you're able, let's stand together now in honor of the
reading of God's Word, Matthew one one through 17, the book of
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 Zahra by Tamar and Perez, the father of Hezron.
And Hezron, the father of Ram and Ran, the father of Aminidab.
And Aminidab the father of Nishon.
And Nishon the father of Sammon. And Sammon the father of Boaz by
Rahab. And Boaz the father of Obed by
Ruth. And Obed the father of Jesse.
And Jesse the father of David the king.
And David was the father of Solomon, 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
Jaconia, Jaconia, Jaconia, Jaconia sorry.
And his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
And after the deportation to Babylon, Jekhoniah was the
father of Shala Tale that'll work.
And Shaltale the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the
father of Abiad, and Abiad the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim
the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadak.
And Zadak the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliad,
and Eliad the father of Elizer, and Eliazer the father of
Matson, and Matson the father of Jacob.
And Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom
Jesus was born, who was 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 the deportation to Babylon to cry to the Christ 14
generations. This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God. Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word.
We thank you for the time that we have in it.
Lord, these are things that we're so tempted to skip over
sometimes just because of the difficulty of the names.
And Lord, I ask now that you would reveal Your word to us.
We know that it's important because it's here.
It's inspired by Your spirit. It's breathed out by your own
mouth to the pen of Matthew that we would know these things.
And so we ask, Lord, that you would open our eyes and our
hearts and our ears and our spirits to understanding.
Lord, would you guide us and strengthen us in our walk with
Christ as we've heard this word today.
It's in the name of Christ, I pray.
Amen. Amen.
You may be seated. So as we declare this is the
word of the Lord, we're saying this is God's word, right?
And at what first appears to be a bear list of names is actually
a sweeping story. Like if you're familiar with the
Old Testament even a little, you recognize a lot of the names
being mentioned there, right? This is a story that traces
God's faithfulness from Abraham through David all the way to
Jesus. And Matthew gives us not what we
would call a theological history.
Sorry. Matthew gives us what we might
call a theological history in giving us a covenantal family,
in giving us a portrait of grace in the form of generations.
So Matthew wants his Jewish readers especially, and us today
to understand that Jesus is not a new religious teacher who
appeared out of thin air, right? He's not some new rabbi doing a
great work. He is the son of Abraham.
He's the son of David. He's the promised king, the
gracious Savior, right? He's the one toward whom all
scripture in the Old Testament has been moving.
He's the one in whom all the promises of God find their yes
and their Amen. So here's where we're going
today. First, I want to show you who
Matthew is, the man and the message.
Just a little bit about the author.
Secondly, I want to show you the genealogy of grace that we've
just read where we see very, very clearly God's faithfulness
in the midst of brokenness. And #3 we want to see that Jesus
is the son of David and of Abraham.
And so we'll see God's faithfulness in the covenants.
But the main point that ties this together, if you're taking
notes or you have worship God, you can fill in the blanks on
this. The main point that ties this
together is this. God's covenant faithfulness
through generations reveals Jesus as one, the promised Son,
and two, the gracious King who came from sinners for sinners.
Right? I'll say it again.
God's covenant faithfulness through generations reveals
Jesus as the promised Son and the gracious King who came from
sinners for sinners. So with that in mind, let's take
a look at Matthew. All right, point #1 Matthew the
man and the message. Now, before we walk through the
genealogy itself, we want to understand who's writing?
Why is he writing? Who's he writing to?
All right, what's the purpose of this book?
We need to understand the man who wrote it and the message
that he wants us to hear. I want you to understand that
Matthew doesn't waste ink. There's 28 chapters in the book
of Matthew, and no ink is wasted, right?
He, he begins the Gospel in the exact way that his own story,
his own calling, and his own burden was shared by Christ,
revealed by Christ, and saved, redeemed by Christ.
And he reveals those things because he wants his readers to
know it. He wants us to understand that,
right? So who was Matthew?
Well, Matthew is also called Levi.
Levi or Matthew was a tax collector.
Even in our day we say right, But especially in this day, they
would say that Job meant several things to 1st century residents,
especially the Jews. Means he worked for Rome.
Rome was the Pagan empire occupying God's land at the
time. He collected taxes from Jewish
families, and not just taxes. He would often take more than
was required to fill his own pockets, right.
He was considered a traitor, he was a collaborator with evil,
and he was a thief. He was cut off from the
synagogue, he was treated as unclaimed, and he was socially
despised. All for money.
In other words, Matthew lived outside the boundaries of a
respectable Jewish. Life.
He was the man everyone avoided. He was the kind of man religious
people whispered about. And yet Jesus walks up to
Matthew's tax booth, looks him in the eye, and he says to him,
follow me now. That ought to speak to our own
hearts. Follow me, right?
Well, that moment changed everything for Matthew, just as
that moment has changed everything for you.
Matthew rose up. He left his old life.
He walked away from the table of Rome and joined the table of the
king of heaven. Matthew knows what it feels like
to be an outsider. He knows what it means to carry
shame. He knows what it means to be
regarded as spiritually unworthy.
And so Matthew's Gospel is uniquely qualified to highlight
Jesus as the merciful King who brings grace to sinners.
Matthew's telling his own story in many.
Ways. Right.
Matthew Henry, great Bible commentator, he said this as
Matthew's writing. He said he writes as one who
deeply, who's deeply sensible of the mercy that he had found.
He writes as one who is deeply sensible of the mercy he had
found. That's going to be clear in
every chapter. Matthew has a unique voice, just
as each gospel writer has a distinctive angle that they
take. Matthew's no different, right?
The Gospel of Mark shows Jesus as the suffering servants.
These are just brief summaries, right?
But the Gospel of Mark shows Jesus as the suffering servant.
The Gospel of Luke highlights Jesus as the Savior of all the
nations and of all kinds of people.
He's particularly writing to Gentiles.
The Gospel of John reveals Jesus as the eternal Son, full of
glory. John tells us that he writes
this book that you may see that Jesus is the Son of God, the
Messiah, and having seen him, find a life.
In his name. All right, so John's Gospel is
very, very evangelistic. And then the Gospel of Matthew,
well, it presents Jesus as the promised king.
He's writing to Jews. And so he's going to, we're
going to see a lot of that kind of language, but he presents
Jesus as the promised king. He's the fulfillment of the Old
Testament. He's the revealer of the Kingdom
of heaven. Matthew quotes the Old Testament
more than Mark, Luke and John combined.
He says again and again after his writings in some places this
was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophets.
He's wanting to hammer home. Listen guys, this is what we
have been being told for thousands of years.
Right. Matthew wants you to know two
things beyond all doubts. Number one, that Jesus is the
Messiah Israel has been waiting for.
He's the Messiah that Israel has been waiting for #2 He wants you
to know that Jesus is the King whose Kingdom reorders or
reshapes the entire. World.
And Matthew, a former traitor, A forgiven Sinner, a redeemed
outcast, is the perfect man to tell that story because Matthew
knows personally that the Kingdom Jesus brings to earth is
open to repentance. Sinners.
It's open to people like him. It's open to people like the
ones in this genealogy. It's open to people like us.
Amen. Matthew writes to persuade.
Matthew isn't merely recording history.
Matthew is preaching. Brothers and sisters.
He's exhorting. He's persuading.
The Gospel is an argument with a heartbeat, and Matthew wants you
to understand that. Matthew writes to convince us of
these things, that Jesus is the son of God, He's the rightful
king. Jesus is the son of Abraham.
He's the promised blessing. Jesus is the authoritative
teacher. He's greater than Moses.
Jesus is the Redeemer, he said, who saves his people from their
sins. Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us,
and Jesus is risen and reigning. Now these are the things that
Matthew wants you to see so clearly in this.
Gospel. And from the very beginning,
Matthew wants us to see him clearly, see Christ clearly.
That's why he puts a genealogy here.
So why does a man like Matthew begin with a genealogy?
Because Matthew knows two things intimately. 1 He knows the shame
of a tarnished past. I won't ask for a show of hands,
but all of us could raise our hand, right?
We know the shame of a tarnished past #2 he knows the power of
redeeming grace. He understands Christ, he
understands salvation, He understands what it means that
the King has come and his Kingdom has been established on
the earth. Matthew includes sinners in
Jesus family because Matthew is 1.
He names outsiders in Jesus family because Matthew is an
outsider. He highlights grace because he
has received grace from the Lord.
So Matthew doesn't introduce Jesus with a Halo, not from the
beginning. He introduces him with a family
tree that's full of sinners because Jesus came from sinners
for sinners. So why does Matthew write?
Well, He writes for the reason that all the authors of the
Bible have written. He wants to bring people to
Christ. He wants people to see the
Savior. He wants them to know the
Redeemer's grace, right. He doesn't write to impress.
He doesn't write to entertain. He doesn't write a literary
masterpiece as we might dub it, right.
He's not concerned about the critics.
He writes to show us Christ. He writes so that sinners will
repent of their sins, but believe that Christ is Lord and
they'll follow the King who has rescued.
Them. The second thing we come to the
second point, the genealogy of grace, The genealogy of grace
and what appears at first glance to be a simple list of names is
in fact a carefully crafted theological portrait.
All right. It's, it's a portrait painted by
the Holy Spirit to show the astonishing faithfulness of God
across centuries. And it shows that faithfulness
of God across centuries despite human sin, despite suffering,
despite rebellion, despite weakness.
All right. Matthew is not merely
cataloguing ancestors. He's preaching A sermon through
a family tree. If you'll notice the structure,
there's three movements of covenant history in the
structure. Here Matthew organizes the
genealogy into three sets of 14, as is revealed in verse 17.
Not because there were only 14 names in each period, but
because he's highlighting 3 great movements in redemptive
history. Matthew.
Henry notes this about Matthew's Gospel and and the point of
these movements. He says in then we see the rise,
the rain, the ruin, and the revival of the Jewish state, and
that they are all pointed at in these three fourteens, right?
The rise, the rain, the ruin, and the revival.
The movements are #1 from Abraham to David, the rise of
the promise, if you will. Verses 2 through 6A, Abraham was
the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the
father of Judah and his brothers.
All right. And then we get to in verse 6A
and Jesse the father of David, the king starts with Abraham,
gets us to David. This is the section of
patriarchs and promise. You see, God called Abraham out
of paganism. He makes him a covenant promise,
but through his seed all the nations would be blessed.
We see that in Genesis 12/1. Through three you have Isaac,
Jacob, and Judah who follow Abraham.
These are flawed men, yet chosen by the grace of God.
And so here the genealogy shows us that God's plan begins with
God's initiative, right? It doesn't begin with human
merit. We can't point to these men and
say they were worthy of being called.
Abraham wasn't seeking God, yet God called him.
Isaac was weak, yet God preserved him.
Jacob was deceiving and unstable, and God transformed
him. And from this line, which is a
line marked by infertility, it's marked by wandering, it's marked
by family conflict and various sins, and all of it, God is
building the foundation for his Kingdom.
So this first section shows us God's promises do not depend on
perfect people and all God's people said.
Amen. All right.
They depend on a perfect God. They depend on a perfect God.
The second movement we see is from David to the exile, the
rise and fall of the Kingdom. 6 be to verse 11 there.
And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah,
Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and then on down to verse 11,
and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the
time of the deportation to Babylon.
We see the rise and the fall of the Kingdom.
This is the section that you might call crowns and
catastrophes, right? It begins with King David, the
man after God's own heart with whom God made an everlasting
covenant in Second Samuel 7th. But after David comes Solomon,
and after Solomon comes division, and after division
comes decline. What follows in this list is a
mix of faithful kings and wicked kings.
It's men of courage and men of compromise.
Some LED revival, others LED rebellions.
Their sins, which were idolatry and justice, immortality or
immorality, ultimately brought judgement on the nation.
The Babylonian exile, which you've been learning about in
Sunday school, you've learned about it home groups a little
bit as well. But the Babylonian exile
represents the collapse of the Kingdom, right?
The temples destroyed, the throne is empty.
The line of kings have apparently been cut down like a
tree. But Matthew Henry notes
something stunning here as well when he says when the crown had
fallen from their head and the family was in the dust, yet out
of it the Messiah spring. The exile did not undo God's
promise. It prepared the way for God's
Messiah right. This middle section teaches us
this middle 14 here teaches us human faithfulness cannot
overturn God's faithfulness. I'm sorry.
Human unfaithfulness cannot overturn God's faithfulness.
The third movement we have from the exile to Christ.
You might call this the Quiet. Weight of Hope.
Verses 12 through 16 And after the deportation to Babylon,
Tekkenai was the father man. I did it again, and the father
of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiad, and then on
down to 16, and Jacob, the father of Joseph, the husband of
Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who was called.
Christ. The this final era is what we
might call an era of silence. It's an era of watching, looking
for the true king, the true Israel, the true Moses, the true
David, the true Abraham, the one who's going to come and
establish his Kingdom forever. During this time, there's no
prophets, there's no kings, no miracles, no revival, The line
of David continued, but it continued quietly, humbly,
almost invisibly. For generations, God's people
waited in the dark. And yet even in the silence, God
was working behind the scenes. Through ordinary men and women,
through obscure towns and unknown families, God preserved
the royal line until the day that he would bring forth the
king. Until this last section here
shows us, God's silence is not God's absence.
All right, if you're going through a difficult time and
you're looking for answers, you're really struggling to find
that. You're struggling to trust the
Lord in those moments, you might think that God's silence is his
absence, but I would urge you to go and read the book of Esther.
The book of Esther shows us that God, though he may be silent, is
certainly not absent. He's preserving his people
through his work. There's sovereign work right
through Providence. He's he's preserving his people.
That's what this, this third list of generations reveals for
us. His promises may wait, but they
never, ever, ever fail. His promises never fail.
Another thing that's worth noticing in these in this
genealogy is what we might call the scandal of grace, right?
Why these people? Why these people?
Why? Why does Matthew do something
that Jewish genealogies rarely do?
He includes women, but he doesn't include the matriarchs
you might expect. You don't read Sarah's name.
You don't read about Rebecca or Rachel, right?
Instead, there's four women whose stories would have raised
eyebrows among the Jewish people.
You have Tamar and verse 3, Tamar was a widow, she was
mistreated, She was caught in a scandal in Genesis 38.
Her story is messy, it's uncomfortable, and yet God
brings the Messiah through her line.
And verse 5, you have Rahab. Rahab was a Canaanite
prostitutes. She was a woman from the enemies
of Israel, and yet she believes the Lord and is welcomed into
Israel #3 you have Ruth and verse 5 also, she's a Moabite
widow. She's from a people who were
born out of incest and excluded from Israel's assembly.
Yet she clings to Naomi and to Israel's God and becomes the
great grandmother of David. Then you have Bathsheba, or as
it mentions in verse 6, the wife of Uriah.
Now Matthew emphasizes Uriah's name to highlight David's sin,
adultery, deception, bloodshed. Her story carries deep pain and
tragedy. And yet God brought Solomon and
ultimately the Messiah through Bathsheba.
So why include these stories? Well, because Matthew wants to
make something unmistakably clear for you and I today Jesus
family line is filled with sinners.
It's filled with outsiders. It's filled with the shamed,
it's filled with the suffering, It's filled with the morally
complicated. And he wants you to know that
because Christ's mission is to save sinners.
It's to welcome outsiders to himself.
It's to restore the shame, to redeem them.
It's to comfort the suffering. It's to redeem the broken
Matthew. Henry says Christ, who came to
save sinners, was pleased to come from sinners.
So this genealogy is not what you might call a trophy case.
It's not holding up the best things for people to see in the
glory and people. No, it's a testimony of grace.
You should also look at the pattern of this genealogy.
You might say that God writes straight with crooked lines.
Wait, we need to see this clearly.
God used liars like Jacob. God used scandal like Tamar.
God used outsiders like Ruth. God used the broken like
Bathsheba. God used idolaters like many of
the kings. And God used failure like exile.
And out of all of it, out of the mess, out of the sin, the
sorrow, the weakness, came Jesus Christ, the son of David, the
son of Abraham, the Savior of the.
World. So the genie Ali preaches a
message long before Jesus speaks a word.
God keeps his covenant promises not through perfect people, but
through his perfect grace. God's faithfulness outlives our
failures. The the people Jesus came from
are the people Jesus came to save.
Another thing I want you to notice about this genealogy is
it sets the tone for the entire gospel.
Sets the tone for the entire gospel.
The list of names is not incidental, brothers and
sisters. It anticipates Matthew's entire
message. Jesus heals the broken because
he came from the broken. Jesus welcomes outsiders because
his story is full of outsiders. Jesus calls sinners because his
family tree is full of sinners. Jesus brings grace because his
lineage is covered in grace. You see, Matthew begins the
Gospel this way because he wants you to see that Jesus didn't
merely come into our world. Sometimes we just think he came
into our world and did his thing.
No, Jesus came fully into your story.
He, he came fully into our humanity.
He came fully, fully into our shame, into our suffering, and
into our need. And so this is a genealogy of
grace. Third thing I want you to see
today is really what I might call the most important thing
that Matthew's trying to show here, and that's that Jesus is
the son of David and of Abraham. He's the son of David and of
Abraham. Matthew announces 2 titles in
the very first verse of this gospel.
Two titles that hold the entire Old Testament together.
Two titles that explain who Jesus truly is and why he came.
In verse 1, he says Jesus Christ, the son of David, the
son of Abraham. So Matthew places these titles
before the genealogy because they are Theo A theological
banner over the whole book. If you misunderstand these
titles that Jesus Christ is the son of David, he's the son of
Abraham. If we misunderstand these
titles, we will misunderstand Jesus.
All right, Matthew Henry says this verse is the summary of the
Old Testament reduced to a single.
Line. I think that's true.
Abraham and David are not just significant names in the Old
Testament. Their covenant heads whose
promise, whose promises converge in Christ.
So let's look briefly at each title.
Jesus, the son of David. This means that Christ is the
promise king, right? The Davidic Covenants, which was
a Kingdom promise, was established in Second Samuel 7.
God promised David something unmatched in the ancient world.
He promised him a throne, a dynasty, and a Kingdom that
would last forever. A son would come from David's
line. The son would build God's true
house. His Kingdom would be established
eternally. His rule would bring justice,
peace, and righteousness. Israel waited for this king.
They longed for him, they prayed for him, they suffered under
failed kings and foreign rulers because their true king had not
yet come. They rejected God's messengers
and so found themselves in further a further world of hurt.
And then we get the kings after David, and then we have success
and failure. The genealogy reminds us that
David's line is filled with kings, but many of them were
deeply flawed men. Now some did revive the nation,
like Hezekiah and Josiah, but some let Israel into idolatry,
like Ahaz and Manasseh. Some brought judgement upon the
people, like Jeroboam. The royal line became so corrupt
that eventually the throne was empty.
The people were exiled into Babylon and it seemed that the
promise to David had died. But you might note this miracle
that Matthew Henry points out. When the royal house seemed
buried in ruins. The root of Jesse still lived.
God was not done. The the promise still stood.
The king would come. And so the third thing we
observe in this part about David's title is that Jesus is
the fulfillment. He's the true and better David.
Jesus is not simply a descendant of David, brothers and sisters.
He is the son of David in whom the covenant reaches its final
and perfect fulfillment. He is the rightful king by
lineage. He is the righteous king by his
character. He's the eternal king by his
resurrection, and he's the global king by Great Commission
authority. Throughout Matthew, you're going
to see the Magi ask where is he who has been born king of the
Jews? You're going to see Jesus
proclaim the Kingdom of heaven more than 50 times.
You're going to see that Jesus is held on Palm Sunday as the
son of David. You're going to see that Christ
himself declares all authority in heaven and on earth has been
given to me. You see, Matthew wants you to
see that Jesus is the King that you and I were made to live
under. He's the King who reigns in
righteousness. He's the King who restores what
sin has broken. That second title, the son of
Abraham. Matthew now is pointing out the
promised blessing if Son of David denounces Jesus as king
and Son of Abraham announces him as the fulfillment of God's
covenant grace. Consider the Abrahamic covenant
for a moment, a blessing promised in Genesis chapter 12.
God promised Abraham a land, He promised him a people, and he
promised him a seed through whom all nations would be blessed.
We're told that Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as
righteousness. But the ultimate promise was not
about land. The ultimate promise was not
about ethnic Israel. The ultimate promise was about
the coming Messiah. Paul tells us this plainly in
Genesis 3. Sorry, Galatians 316.
He says now the promises were made to Abraham and to his
offspring, who is Christ. So Christ is the promised seed
who brings salvation to the nation's.
Amen. The second thing we see about
Abraham is we might consider his line, right, Abraham's line.
In it we have grace, we have weakness, and we have God's
faithfulness. So the genealogies inclusion of
Abraham's descendants reminds us this.
Isaac was passive and fearful. Jacob was highly deceptive.
Judah was immoral to say the least.
The family was riddled with conflict, and yet God kept his
promise. Matthew Henry again commentating
on this. He says though the covenant
seemed often in danger, yet it never failed.
The promise to Abraham lived until it lived in Christ.
Amen. The third thing we see about
this title, the son of Abraham is Jesus as the fulfillments.
He is the blessing for all nations.
Jesus fulfills the Abrahamic, Abrahamic promise in multiple
ways. He is the true Israel, obeying
where Israel failed. He is the light to the Gentiles
bringing salvation to the ends of the earth.
He creates a multi ethnic family of faith.
He is the one through whom all peoples, Jews, Gentile, male,
female, slave, free, are invited into God's covenant family.
So Matthew begins with Abraham, but he ends with in Matthew 28,
go and make disciples of all nations.
So from the first chapter to the last chapter, Matthew's Gospel
is global. Brothers and sisters.
The presence of Gentile women in the genealogy, like Rahab and
Ruth, these things are a preview.
They're a down payment, if you will, on the worldwide reach of
Christ's Kingdom. I want you also to observe in
this genealogy that Jesus is the fulfillment of both promises.
He's the King and the Savior appearing David and Abraham.
Matthew is teaching us that Jesus is the King who reigns.
He's the Savior who redeems, He's the Son who fulfills both
covenants. He's the seed who crushes the
serpent, and he's the shepherd who gathers the nations.
The genealogy's goal is not to impress you with a list of
names. It's not even to baffle you.
It's to show you that Jesus stands at the intersection of
every promise that God has ever made.
Everything in the Old Testament points to Christ.
Every covenant finds us, yes, in him.
Every prophecy converges on Christ, Every shadow points to
him, Every longing is fulfilled in him.
Matthew Henry says this. He says all the promises of
God's center in Christ, for he is the sum and the substance of
the covenant. So you may ask, what does all
this mean? As we look at this genealogy, as
we observe all these things, what does this mean?
Well, Jesus is not just the climax of Israel's history.
Jesus is the climax of God's story.
He's the King who reigns. He's the seed who blesses.
He's the Savior who redeems. He's the point of every bit of
it, and having seen that, we ought to rise up and call the
Lord blessed, but I'll praise his name.
What a sing about his marvelous grace and his mercy which is
extended to us. We ought to thank him for his
covenant faithfulness because we are not covenant Lee faithful.
Very often, to call Jesus the son of David, the son of
Abraham, is to say that he is the king that you must bow to.
Brothers and sisters. He's the one that we bend our
knees to, so to speak. He's the Savior that you must
trust. He's the Christ you must
proclaim. There is therefore now no other
name given among heaven by which we must have given among men, by
which we must be saved. He's the way, the truth, and the
life. No one comes to the Father
except through Christ. He's able to save to the
uttermost all those who draw near to the Father through Him,
because He always lives to make intercession for us.
He's our advocate in heaven when we're guilty of sin.
He's the one to whom we call on in our times of need, where we
need mercy and grace. We boldly approach the throne of
grace because Christ is in heaven.
He's a sympathetic, great high priest for us.
He bids us come to him. All you who are weary and heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. You could go on and on and on.
Christ is the fulfilment of God's story.
He's the culmination of all of it.
And so this genealogy stands as something that ought to lead us
to worship not merely admiration, but to worship the
King Christ. Is King Amen.
Matthew's genealogy is not simply a record of where Jesus
came from, it's a portrait of who he came for.
Across the 17 verses, we see roughly 2000 years of God's
unbreakable faithfulness and unchanging grace.
This family line filled with the kinds of people we might try to.
Hide. It's what?
Do you think about your own families?
But in this family, there's people who are broken, they're
sinners. There's outsiders, there's
people who are overlooked, they're wounded, they're wildly
imperfect. And yet through all of them, God
brought forth his own Son. And so this genealogy tells us 4
simple, life changing truths #1 God keeps his promises.
These are the things I want you
to know. You may write these down #1 God
keeps his promises. Not one word of His covenant
ever failed. Even when His people fell, God
did not. So what does that mean for you?
It means you should trust Him with everything that you are, at
all times, in all circumstances. Trust Christ.
He is faithful still #2 God works through broken people.
And all God's people said, Amen, your failures.
I want everybody to listen to me.
Your failures cannot will not cancel his mercy.
Your failures cannot cancel, will not cancel his
faithfulness. You can bring your past to
Christ. You can bring all your
weaknesses to Christ. You can bring all your wounds to
Christ. In fact, I would urge.
You to do that because he and he alone redeems what sin has
scarred #3 Jesus is the King we need.
Jesus is the King we need, so therefore you should bow to him.
I don't just mean on Sunday mornings when you sing a song
that you really like. I don't mean merely in moments
of trouble you really feel, feel like you've reached the bottom.
I mean, at every moment of your life, bow to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Submit yourself to Him.
Take refuge in His righteous rule.
He alone is worthy to lead your life.
Submit to Him. Fourthly and finally, Jesus
welcomes sinners into his family by grace.
Jesus welcomes sinners into his family by grace.
What does that mean? It's really good news for people
who pride themselves on trying to bring about salvation through
their own good works. It's really good news for people
who think that the goal of life is to stack.
Up every good deed I can, and just hope at the end of all
things that it weighs greater on the scale than my bad deeds do.
You cannot earn the acceptance of God, but you can receive it.
So come to him. Confess your need.
Confess that you have been a terrible Lord of your life.
Confess that you have been a terrible manager of whatever the
things God has blessed you with, that you've ruined by your own
inability at times, your own bad deeds, Right?
Confess your need, Christ, I need you.
I need you to lead me every moment of the day.
I need you to show me your word, to make it clear for me that I
might follow you. Confess your need.
Turn from your own sin. Believe in the name of Jesus
Christ. Trust that he did come, that He
did live a perfect life, that he died a sinner's death, having no
sin of his own, so that he might rescue all those who will call
his name from the pit of hell. Believe in his name.
He will never cast you out. You see, Matthew?
Begins his gospel with the genealogy so that you'll know
exactly who this Jesus is. He's the promised Son, the
gracious King who came from sinners, for sinners, and that
means that he came for you. So come to him today.
Trust him today. Maybe you have come to him and
there's something you're holding on to.
You're trying to remain Lord over that thing.
Trust it to God today. Lay down your fears, lay down
your shame, lay down your sin, and receive the mercy and grace
of the Lord this morning. You can follow him as your king,
the power of the Spirit of God in you.
You can walk by the Spirit just as we read in Romans 6 this
morning. You've been buried with Christ
and sin. You've been raised a new life.
You can walk with the Lord. You don't have to present your
members, your hands, your feet, your eyes, your mind, your
heart, your words. You don't have to present those
things as members of unrighteousness any longer.
You can present them as members of righteousness, doing the
works and the. Deeds of the Lord.
God Almighty, you can serve Him with every ounce of your being
You can. You can follow Him as your King.
You can rest in Him as your Savior.
You can rest knowing I don't have to stack up the good works.
Yes, I should be driven to good works by my faith in God, who
has been so gracious and loving and merciful to save me.
But my good works are not saving me.
They're just proclaiming the name of the king.
Matthew's going to make that clear in chapter 5.
You can walk. Forward in the confidence that
His grace is sufficient at all times.
You. Often don't know the grace from
the Lord that you need in any given moments until you need it.
And God makes it so clear that His grace is sufficient at all
times. His promises are sure.
His promises are yes and Amen. And with God His yes is always
yes. His amens are always faithful.
He cannot lie. He's sure.
You can come to him knowing with confidence that his Kingdom is
unshakable. You can look at the world around
you. You can look at the world, maybe
immediately in your own home. You can begin to think, Man,
this unshakable Kingdom seems rather shaky right now.
But look at that genealogy. The Kingdom of God is not
shakable. Brothers and sisters, He's
accomplishing His work. It's going forward.
Many of you sit here as Christians today because someone
preached the gospel to you some 2000 years after Christ died and
rose again. The gospel spread to your area.
Wherever you heard first. The gospel spread to that place
so that God could save you from your sins.
His work moves forward. Amen.
He's accomplishing every bit of it for His own glory, so that we
might rejoice in the glory of the Lord and commit ourselves to
the good of His Kingdom. So let us go from here today
remembering this. God's covenant faithfulness
through generations reveals Jesus as the promised Son and
the gracious King who came from sinners for sinners.
And yes, that does mean he came for you.
Brothers and sisters, let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you today for your word.
We thank you, Lord, for a genealogy.
We thank you for the truth that is revealed here, in which we
have only scratched the surface of the stories that this
genealogy tells about your faithfulness.
But God, we ask that you would help us to see it clearly today.
Help us to see it so that we can see that you are faithful.
Help us to see it so that we can see that.
You work through broken people. Like us, help us to see it so
that we can see also that Jesus is the King we need, and help us
to see it so that we can see that Jesus welcomes sinners to
himself. Father, I pray that You would
use this word in our hearts and in our minds and our souls as we
go out this week to honor you and to glorify you.
Help us, Lord, to build the Kingdom of God in everything
that we do as we live, as spouses and parents, students
and workers, churchmen and church women, a father, as you,
as you have given us things in the day to be doing, help us to
be mindful of your Kingdom always.
And Father, we thank you that you have shown us so much grace
and mercy, that the light of Christ has shown into our hearts
what a marvelous light it is. Help us to be the light in the
darkness. Let me give you a moment there
with your head bowed, just to pray, to respond to the Lord as
the Sirit's drawing you now. Heavenly Father, we thank you
that you are ever faithful, that you're steadfast in love, that
you are good to every generation.
We've seen that today. We proclaim it this morning, and
it's on our hearts as we prepare now to receive the Lord's
Supper. In the name of Christ I pray.
Amen.