I'm going to do something this evening I've been putting off for a long, long time. I want to begin an exposition to four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I hope the study will be profitable to you. I trust that God the Holy Spirit will, with every message, be our teacher. And I hope that I will get your attention tonight and keep it right through the study if you plan to be here. every Tuesday night until we have finished this study. I plan to begin right here in Matthew chapter 1 and go through the Gospel of John.

I know we will have some interruptions along the way and it will be a long time before we finish. But as I look through my notes, I realize that I have never given an exposition of Matthew, Mark, or Luke in detail. And frankly, there were very few people in modern times who have done so. I think it's very, very important that you and I seek to understand the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ as it is set forth in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

And my text this evening is verses 1 through 17 of Matthew chapter 1. The title of my message is The Genealogy of Christ. I want simply this evening to show you some lessons to be drawn from our Lord's family tree. Read with me beginning in verse one. The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. There Matthew tells you his purpose. He's going to show you that Jesus Christ is the son of David and the son of Abraham.

Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren, and Judas begat Phares, and Zerah of Tamar, and Phares begat Eshram, and Eshram begat Aram. Aram begat Amminadab, and Amminadab begat Naasan, and Naasan begat Salmon. And Salmon begat Boaz, or Boaz as we would know him, of Rakem. And Boaz begat Obed of Ruth. And Obed begat Jesse. And Jesse begat David the king. And David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Uriah.

And Solomon begat Reboam, and Reboam begat Abiah, and Abiah begat Asa, and Asa begat Josaphat, and Josaphat begat Joram, and Joram begat Osias. And Osias begat Jotham, or Joathim, and Joathim begat Achaz, and Achaz begat Ezekias, and Ezekias begat Manassas, And Manassas begat Ammon, and Ammon begat Josias. And Josias begat Jeconias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon. And after that, or after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconias begat Shalathiel, and Shalathiel begat Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel begat Abiad, and Abiad begat Eliakim, and Eliakim begat Asa, And Aser begat Sadduk, and Sadduk begat Acham, and Acham begat Eliad, and Eliad begat Eliezer, and Eliezer begat Mathan, and Mathan begat Jacob, and Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called the Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David are 14 generations. And from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations. And from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations. Now the verses we have just read are the opening lines of the New Testament, the beginning of the story of Jesus Christ our Lord.

And at first glance, I don't have any question when you read this genealogical record, at first glance, these lines appear to be just a list of names with very little, if any, significance at all to us. But there is much, much more here than a list of names. These lines are given by the pen not of man alone, but by the direct arrangement of God the Holy Spirit, and the words I've just read to you, as much as any other portion of Holy Scripture, are the inspired words of God himself to us. They are given by God for our learning and for our admonition, and they're given by God for specific purposes. Now, I want us to learn to cherish this book in all its parts, to cherish it in its entirety. This book is the Holy Bible, the Word of God. We should, each of us, constantly give thanks to God that he has given us his Word in our native tongue.

I recognize some value, some value, in studying the ancient languages, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, in which the Bible was originally written. I recognize some value in that. But I'm here to tell you that is overstressed by most people. It is made to be far too important by most people.

God in his wise and good providence has given us his word in our native tongue, and right here it is. I have no question at all, no hesitancy at all in telling you this is the Word of God preserved for you and me, that we might learn the things that God has revealed by this printed page right here. So that when you read the Scriptures, I recognize that in translation some things are lost. You cannot translate from a language that has eight verb tenses into a language that has three verb tenses and not lose something. I recognize that in the usage of grammar over the years, our usage changes so that there are some various shades of meaning, some various details of meaning that may not be quite as clear in the English translation as they were in their original writing. But understand, when you read this book, you're reading the very Word of God Almighty which He's preserved for you.

This book is able to make us wise unto salvation. This book is able, by the blessing of God, to furnish us for every good work in this world which God may call us to do. So that as God in his providence opens doors of opportunity for us to serve him, this book gives us direction as to how to serve him. We're not left in the dark, we're not left to guess what we should do or how we should behave. Now it is our responsibility to search and study and seek to understand this book, the message that it contains. so that we may govern our lives by it for the glory of God.

Our Lord says, search the scriptures. Search the scriptures. They testify of me. Seek by the blessing of God to study, to show yourself a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly, understanding the word of truth, understanding the message of Christ and Him crucified revealed in it.

And in the last day, you and I will be judged. according to this book, we will be required to give account to God for our use or our neglect of the life he's given us. I suspect if you really believe that, if we really believe that, we wouldn't neglect it. One of these days, God Almighty is going to call us to give account of our use or our neglect of the light he's given us. It would behoove us then to make ourselves acquainted with what this book contains, what it reveals.

Wise are those people who follow the counsel that was given by J.C. Ryle long ago. He said, let us read the Bible reverently and diligently with an honest determination to believe and practice all that we find in it. It is no light matter how we use this book. Above all, let us never read the Bible without praying. Praying for the teaching of the Holy Spirit He alone is able to apply truth to our hearts and make us prophets by what we read. Now the New Testament begins with the history of the earthly life, death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is given four times by four different men. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John from four distinct points of view. And yet, as you read the gospel narratives, there is not a single contradiction in any of the four gospels. All four men give testimony to exactly the same thing from four distinct perspectives.

Four distinct gospel narratives tell us the blessed story of Christ's doing and dying as the sinner's substitute. Four times we read of his precious words, works, and worth as the God-man, our mediator. How thankful we should be for the four gospels. Each one complements and reinforces the other.

To know Christ is life eternal. To believe Christ is to have peace with God. To follow Christ is to be a true child of God, a true Christian, a true believer. To be with Christ is heaven itself. We can never hear too much about the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you need to hear about him, If you want to hear about him, and I hope you both need and want to hear about him, you'll be here every Tuesday night, and I'll tell you about him out of these four gospel narratives. Now in our text tonight, these 17 verses that we have read, Matthew proves to us irrefutably that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ of God, and he does so by giving us his genealogy. At the same time, he shows us that the Son of God has graciously identified himself with those people he has come to save. Now, I want to show you five things in this message this evening.

First, it is important for us to realize the importance of this genealogy. You remember last week, those of you who are trying to keep up with your daily readings, Last week, as you read First Chronicles, the first, what, four, five, six chapters of First Chronicles, we read names, after names, after names, after names, after names. I said to Shelby, after the reading one morning, I said, do you understand why those chronicles are so important? Why that listing of genealogies is so important?

And she said, I'm sure I don't. I don't know whether she did or not, but give me a chance to preach to her a little bit. So I'm going to preach to you like I did to her. Matthew was moved by the Holy Spirit to begin his gospel with a long list of names. Sixteen verses are taken up with tracing out the family tree of the Lord Jesus Christ as a man. From Abraham to David, from David to Jeconias, and from Jeconias to Joseph. The 17th verse divides up the genealogy into three groups of 14 generations. And Matthew does this with meticulous detail.

Now don't foolishly imagine that these verses are useless. Nothing in God's creation is useless. I was sitting out on the porch the other day looking at those blooming blackbirds. And I made the mistake of saying to Shelby, I don't know what on earth those things are good for. And immediately, I thought to myself, I don't know what they're good for, but God knows what they're good for. He's the one that created them. And there is nothing in God's creation that is useless. Everything serves its own purpose in its own place. And there is nothing in God's word that is useless. Every word is inspired by God.

Those chapters and verses which seem at first glance to have no spiritual meaning or value, are just as important and just as needful in their place as John chapter 3, Romans chapter 5, or 1 Corinthians chapter 15. I don't like the red letter edition of the scripture. I don't like them for only one reason, because they seem to imply that the words that were directly spoken by the Lord Jesus are somehow more important and meaningful than the words that were recorded in Holy Scripture by the inspiration of God, and nothing could be further from the truth. More than that, no part of scripture is to be exalted above another part of scripture.

It is all given by inspiration of God. It is all profitable for you and me that the man of God may be perfect, mature, complete, thoroughly furnished, and prepared unto every good work by the grace of God. So as we look at this genealogy, It is intended by the Spirit of God to give us some crystal clear instruction and it's given for a very specific purpose and meaning. The genealogy is very important because it is irrefutable proof that Jesus Christ of Nazareth was who he claimed to be, the son of David and of the seed of Abraham, that one who is worthy and rightfully lays claim to the title Messiah, the Christ.

The Jews, you remember, kept meticulous Detailed, perfect genealogies. You read some back in the first chronicles chapters, the first chapters, the first chronicles. They kept those genealogies and the scribes and Pharisees would constantly debate. They had huge arguments and debates over the genealogies. They raised great issues concerning the significance of the genealogies.

Now they did so in ignorance, but they did so in God's providence. The scribes and pharisees knew the genealogies. They knew them. You and I learned scripture, we memorized scripture. Well, the scribes and pharisees not only memorized verses of scripture that taught important doctrine, they memorized genealogies.

They memorized them in detail because they kept an accurate history in their very minds of what had taken place in the nation of Israel. Now, that's important. Because if these men, the scribes, the Pharisees, or the Sadducees, could have disproved our Lord's genealogy, if they could have just pointed to one aspect of his genealogy and said, there, that's a flaw. That's a flaw. Right there.

That proves he's not really the son of David. That proves he's not really of the seed of Abraham. That proves he didn't really come from the royal, kingly line in Israel. That's the proof of it. if they could have pointed to one place, just one place in the genealogy of Christ, they would have disproved his claim to Messiahship.

That would have been sufficient ground for their rejection of him. The Jews, during our Lord's Earthen Ministry though, argued about many things. They debated with him about everything. They disputed with him about almost every word he spoke. But you will find it Absolutely, you will find that absolutely nowhere in his life did the Jews ever raise any question about his ancestry. Isn't that interesting? Nowhere. They never raised a question. He claimed to be the son of David and he had the credentials. He claimed to be the seed of Abraham and he had the credentials and the Jews never questioned it. Not one time. More than that, to my knowledge, No heretic in history has ever tried to refute the Lord's genealogy.

We've heard folks come up with every kind of possible imaginary hypothesis concerning the origin of Jesus Christ, that man who was crucified in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, and why he had such great influence over the world, but I have never yet read a man who tried to take Matthew's record here of the genealogy of Christ and tear it apart, because the record's too plain. The record is too well preserved, while Luke's genealogical record gives some additional details. There is not so much as one point of disagreement between Matthew's account and Luke's account of the Lord's genealogy because they are given with perfect detail by the inspiration of God. So the importance of this genealogy is that it gives an irrefutable declaration that Jesus is the Christ as he claimed to be according to the genealogists.

Secondly, in this long list of names, We are made to see God's faithfulness to his word. The Lord God always keeps his word. I don't know a single human being on this earth who always keeps his word. Honest men strive earnestly to do so. But honest men, the most honest of men, have no control over circumstances, and so they will occasionally be prevented from keeping their word. But God Almighty controls all circumstances, all things in the creation, and God always keeps His word exactly. There's never a time when He's failed to do so. The Lord God has promised that in the seed of Abraham all the nations of the world would be blessed. That was his promise.

Turn back to Genesis chapter 12. Genesis chapter 12. I'll give you a number of scriptures if you want them later, but here's sufficient. In Genesis chapter 12, God called Abraham and he says in verse 3, I'll bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. What does that mean? What does that mean? Later on, God said, in thee and in thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed. Well, what does that mean? Turn over to Galatians chapter three. Galatians chapter three. The apostle Paul explains exactly what it means.

I recall once some preacher I went to school with, I don't remember who it was now. I remember what he said. We were both preaching in West Virginia. for various times, and he'd been up to Hinton, and he said, you know why Hinton, West Virginia has never grown? You know why that town has never prospered? And I said, no, why? He said, because they don't treat Jews good. And I thought, well.

I don't see where you get that they don't treat them good, but that sure doesn't have anything to do with Scripture. When God talks about, in Abraham's seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed, He's not talking about how men treat the physical seed of Abraham.

He's talking about Jesus Christ the Lord, who is Abraham's seed. Look what it says here in Galatians 3 and verse 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. being made a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ. That is, Christ redeemed us that we might have the blessing God promised back yonder to Abraham through Jesus Christ. That we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. The blessing is eternal life. He says, brethren, I speak after the manner of men. Though it be but a man's covenant, if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth or addeth thereto. This word can't be broken.

Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds, as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. So God promised that he would bless all the nations of the earth through Abraham's seed, and Abraham's seed is Jesus Christ the Lord. More than that, the Lord God plainly promised that he would raise up one out of the family of David to be the savior of his people, and to him would all the children of God be gathered. You can read it in Isaiah chapter 11. The Lord God promised that he would raise one out of Jesse's household, out of David's family, whom he would make to be our Savior. Now, Matthew 1, verses 1 through 17, prove that Jesus Christ was and is the son of Abraham and the son of David, whom God promised.

These 17 verses are a demonstration of the fact that God Almighty God always keeps his word. Always. Well, Don, how does that apply to us? Let every thoughtless scoffer remember this and tremble. God always keeps his word. God always keeps his word. Whatever you may think of it, God keeps His word. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. God keeps His word. The wages of sin and death, God keeps His word. We must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. God keeps His word.

Every man shall be judged out of the books. Those who are righteous shall be rewarded with life everlasting, made righteous by faith in Jesus Christ. Those who have no righteousness, but their sins alone. The filthy rags they thought were righteousness, just their sin, shall be forever damned.

God keeps his word. He keeps his word. And let every believer remember this and be comforted. Our Heavenly Father will be true to all his promises. He is not a man that he should lie. He ever abideth faithfully, cannot deny himself. He is God, the eternal God, who cannot lie, and his promises are all yea and amen in Jesus Christ. God Almighty has promised saving grace to every sinner who believes Him. Do you believe Him?

I do. I can't say much, but I can say this, I believe the Son of God, He promised saving grace to me. He has promised grace sufficient to those who are trying. So that in the midst of the trial, when you're going through the deep valley, in the hard trouble, He says, my grace is sufficient for them. And it is. It is. I wrote to a very dear friend yesterday, I think it was. His boy, just a little younger than my daughter, only child, had a car wreck, been in a coma.

And I said, Jim and Shirley, God will not only see you through this, he will arrange it so that one of these days you'll be thankful you went through it. His grace is sufficient. His grace is sufficient. He promises to those who are tempted, enabling grace to sustain them. He'll make a way of escape so that you may be able to bear it. To those who are fallen, He promises restoring grace. He says, the Lord will lift you up.

Though you fall seven times in a day, He'll direct your paths. To those who are feeble and weak and think, I just can't go on. I've seen others stronger and mightier than I, others more noble than I, who have fallen by the wayside long ago. I can't persevere. He promises, I'll keep you. I'll preserve you. I'll uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness. To the dying, he promises dying grace. And to all his saints, he promises crowning grace and everlasting glory.

Thirdly, this genealogy of Christ, is one of many revelations in Holy Scripture of the sinfulness and corruption of man. As I read these verses of Scripture again today, I was both humbled and instructed. For here I see a list of names of some very godly parents, and I use the words very godly in a sense that you understand. I'm talking about men who believed God. I'm talking about men who truly tried to honor God in their lives, godly men, who had for their offspring terribly wicked and ungodly sons. terribly wicked and ungodly sons. Roboam, Joram, Ammon, and Jeconias were terribly wicked men, though every one of them had believing godly fathers.

What does all that mean? Well, it means one thing for certain, grace doesn't run in bloodlines. It just doesn't. Turn over to John chapter 1 again, that passage Lindsay read just a few minutes ago. John chapter 1. I don't know what it'll take to convince folks of this.

But grace does not run in bloodlines because your mama or daddy happened to be believers. happen to be men, women, who have been chosen, redeemed, and called by the grace of God. That doesn't mean God's going to have mercy on you. That doesn't mean you're a child of God. That doesn't mean you're accepted in the beloved. In John chapter 1 verse 12, our Lord's testimony here by John is, As many as received Him, to them gave He the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. What's the cause of all that? Read verse 13.

Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the man, of the flesh, nor of the will of the man. That means folks are born again, born into the kingdom of God, not as a result of their pedigree, and not by the will of mom and dad, and not by their own free will, but of God. But of God.

Fathers are responsible to train their children in the way they should go. If a man is not going to assume and exercise that responsibility, he ought not have any children. Fathers are responsible to discipline and train their children in the way they should go. But fathers are not responsible either for the behavior or for the salvation of their children in their adulthood. They're just not responsible for it.

I so often see churches get all bent out of shape because some man, a pastor, an elder, a deacon, somebody in the congregation has a son, grown son, that turns out to be a rebel and they act as though somehow that father was responsible to convey grace to that son and it doesn't happen. I cannot give grace to my child, you can't give grace to yours. I cannot make a loyal person out of my child, you can't make a loyal person out of yours. Only God by His grace can give folks a new heart. Only God by His grace.

David, the king of Israel, was without question the most remarkable man outside of the God-man himself I read of in scriptures. I don't know of any man to compare with him, do you? I don't know of any man. Oh, but David did this, David did that, David did the other thing. God said three things. Just three. When David died, God just had three things to speak against him.

And they weren't laid to his charge. He's accepted as a substitute. I don't know any man who compares with David. And in David's household, wasn't hardly anybody who believed God or worshiped him. Well, David stepped aside, get off the throne, quit beating Israel, give up everything God called you to do. Your son's a reprobate. No, David, stay where you are and worship God in spite of your reprobates on.

That's right. God's people have got to learn this thing and learn it well. We do not give grace to our children. We call on God to give grace to our children. It takes more than a good example. It takes more than good instruction. It takes more than faithful training. It takes more than earnest prayers to save our sons and daughters. It takes the grace of God.

That's just it. That's just it. You and I who are born of God's Spirit, that's about the you and I are God's children because God chose us, God redeemed us, and God called us. And if our sons and daughters are God's children because God chose them, God redeemed them, and God called them. That's it.

Fourthly, as I read this genealogy of our Lord again, I was once more reminded of the great mercy, grace, compassion, and condescension of the Lord Jesus. Some of the names in this genealogy remind us of shameful events and sad histories. Some of those named here are mentioned nowhere else in all of Scripture. Let my name be named with his. I don't care if it's named anywhere else or not. Their names are mentioned nowhere else but here. But the last crowning name in the list is Christ. In verse 17 we read, The very last word in the genealogy in verse 16 is Jesus who is called Christ.

Oh, what condescending compassion and grace is here. Though he is the eternal God, Jesus Christ humbled himself and became a man. that he might bring salvation to fallen men. Ye see the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might be made rich. The Lord Jesus Christ being in the very image of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and became, made himself in the likeness of sinful flesh and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Oh, what condescending mercy. Thank God for his unspeakable gift.

Here is grace. In this genealogy, five women are named. Four of them have a very serious blemish upon them. One of our Lord's ancestors was a woman by the name of Tamar. Tamar deceived her father-in-law and bore child of incest. But our Lord identifies himself with an incestuous woman who, by law, deserves to be stoned to death.

Rahab. She was a harlot. She was a harlot. Modern writers try their best to convince us that Rahab was just an innkeeper, but under the kind of inn she kept, she was a harlot. And the Lord Jesus takes for his ancestral mama a harlot by the name of Rahab and identifies himself with her.

Ruth. Ruth was a Moabitess. You know where the Moabites came from? They came from Lot's daughter getting their horribly unfaithful father into a drunken stupor and committing incest with him. And Ruth the Moabitess was a woman from a cursed place. And the son of God, our savior, takes for one of his ancestral mamas, a Moabitess, from a cursed race and identifies himself with a cursed people.

Bathsheba was an adulteress. The first child, the child of Her adultery with David was killed. But then God gave her another child and comforted her and sent his prophet and said, you name that boy Solomon and tell her God's at peace with her. You name that boy Solomon and tell her she's been loved by God. And the Lord Jesus takes for one of his ancestral mothers the adulterous Bathsheba and identifies himself with sinners.

And that brings me to the last thing. This genealogy, as I read it, just jumps out at me with an exemplification of the sovereignty of God's saving grace. You read the genealogy and it begins with Abraham. Now Luke goes back to Adam, but this genealogy begins with Abraham. Why? Because the Lord took hold of the seat of Abraham to redeem and save him, the covenant seat. This genealogy list Isaac because Isaac was chosen but not Ishmael. This genealogy includes Jacob because Jacob was included by grace but not Esau.

This genealogy even lists a man by the name of Manassas or Manasseh. Even old Manasseh was named in the line of men who were chosen of God and called. That trophy of God's amazing grace, Manasseh. That king who walked in rebellion to hold the ways of his righteous father and gave in to every passion and lust of idolatry in his heart. God snatched from the pit of corruption and set him among princes and made him a king to honor God. Manasseh. Understand this then.

No human being is beyond the reach of Christ's saving arm or his sympathetic heart. Our sins may have been as many and as vile as any who are here listening, but they shall never be remembered against us by our God, if we trust him who is the Christ, the Son of God. For by him, by his blood, We have the forgiveness of all sins. Now that's the beginning of the generations of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.