in the hymn book to read along
with the words while she was singing that song. And this line
hit me like it never has before. Jesus, my shepherd, brother,
friend, my prophet, priest, and king, my Lord, my life, my way,
my end, except the praise I bring. He is that to every believer. That's glorious, isn't it? Turn
back to Matthew chapter one. I wonder how many of us have
come to a genealogy and skipped it. or at least read through
it real quick. So you wouldn't feel guilty that
you skipped it, but you didn't really pay a whole lot of attention
to what was saying. You were just getting through
it. Well, this is not one of those endless
genealogies. This is a very important genealogy. The book of the generation of
Jesus Christ. That's the opening line to what
is known as the New Testament, the writings of the New Testament.
Now, before the Lord's birth, the last word we had from God
was the book of Malachi. And after that, there was 400
years of silence where God did not speak by way of a prophetic
word. 400 years of silence. And a lot
happened during those 400 years, including formation of the Pharisees. You know, the Pharisees are not
mentioned in the Old Testament. This is a man-made religion,
but it serves to teach us what human religion is. The word Pharisee
means separated one and the Pharisee believed that something he did
separated him from somebody else and that's why he was saved.
It's not so no subtle form of salvation by works and much of
the dialogue in the Gospels is centered around the Lord and
the Pharisees. Then 400 years after Malachi
is over, the Lord comes to this planet. John said every spirit that confesses
that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. Now, how many times did the Lord
say, I came down from heaven? I came down from heaven. I'm
sure that gall people when he said that. If I said, I came
down from heaven, you would have a good reason to be very suspicious
of me making a statement like that, but he said, I came down
from heaven. He was, before he came, the eternal
Son of God. He came in the flesh, bone of
our bones and flesh of our flesh. God was manifest the flesh. The Word was made flesh. Jesus Christ, the Creator, the
Eternal Son of God, came in the flesh and, beloved, He did exactly
what He came to do. He saved His people from their
sins. That's in this chapter. Look
at verse 21. We're told, I think we'll consider this next week,
bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall
save his people from their sins. That's why he came. Yes, he came
to glorify his father. Yes, he came to obey his father.
But this is the reason we're given right here. And I love
this reason because this is what I need. I need to be saved from
my sins. And he came to save his people. I love the way it says that.
That means the elect. Those the father gave him. You see, if
he came to save everybody and not everybody's saved, we've
got a problem. But no, he came to save his people
from their sins. And that's exactly what he did. Paul said, when the fullness
of time was come, God sent forth his son made of a woman. Remember how he's prophesied
as the seed of woman that would come and crush the serpent's
head, not the seed of Adam. But the seed of woman, made of
a woman, made under the law, he who made the law placed himself
under the law. What a condescension. You see,
there's no law over God's head. There's no rules he seeks to
follow. He's God. Whatever he does is
right. But the Lord Jesus Christ condescended
to be under that law, to redeem them that were under the law
that we might receive the adoption of sons. Now, the Lord inspired
four different men to write the gospels. of the life, the death,
and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John. Now, Mark begins with these words,
and I love this, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
the origin of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He doesn't
wait for anything, does he? Right out immediately. And then Luke said this, for
as much as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a
declaration of those things which are most surely believed among
us, even as they delivered them unto us from the beginning, who
were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, it seemed good to
me also, having had a perfect understanding of all things from
the very first to write unto thee in order, most excellent
Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty of those things
wherein thou hast been instructed." And then you know how John introduced
his gospel. In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God as
a distinct person. And the Word was God. The same was eternally was always
the great I am that I am the same was in the beginning with
God. And Matthew begins with this
genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now Luke also records a genealogy,
but it doesn't incur till the third chapter. And some have
suggested that Matthew's genealogy is that of Joseph and Luke is
the genealogy of Mary. And that makes sense to me. I
don't know if that's so, but it does make sense. Now, Matthew
is the first in the canon. Probably Mark was written first,
but Matthew is first in the canon. And I think this is interesting.
Look at Matthew chapter nine. When Matthew is writing this,
look how he describes himself. Matthew chapter nine. And as Jesus passed forth from
thence, verse nine, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the
receipt of custom. And he said unto him, follow
me. And he arose and followed him. He was a publican. sitting at
the receipt of custom, making money in a dishonest way. And
the Lord comes up to him and says, follow me. And that statement was with irresistible,
invincible grace. Matthew couldn't have said no.
He rose and followed him. And let me remind you, following
Christ doesn't mean imitating Christ. That's the way most people
interpret it. Well, we do what he did. When
the sheep follow him, they're not imitating the shepherd. They're
following the shepherd. They are looking to the shepherd. They're not looking down at their
feet. Their walk, they're not looking their side at somebody
else's walk. They're not looking behind them
to see if they can find some kind of evidences in their life
that they're saved. They look to the shepherd. Follow me. Now we read in Matthew
chapter 10 when we're given the list of the apostles. And when he called unto him his
twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits
to cast them out. and to heal all manner of sickness
and all manner of disease. Now the names of the twelve apostles
are these. The first, Simon, who is also
called Peter, and Andrew his brother, James the son of Zebedee,
and John his brother, Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew,
what? Republican. None of the other
lists of the disciples identify him as a publican, but the one
he writes, he identifies himself as Matthew, the publican. He doesn't even say Matthew,
who used to be a publican. This is how he saw himself, Matthew,
the publican. Now in Matthew chapter one, verse
one, the book of the generation of Jesus Christ. And the word generation in verse
one is different from the word generations in verse 17. So all
the generations from Abraham to David are 14 generations.
This is a different word and it actually means origin. The origin of Jesus Christ, the
son of David, the son of God. I want to read Micah chapter
five, verse two. This is a prophecy concerning him. We read, but
thou Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though thou be little among the thousands
of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is
to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from old,
from everlasting. When he talked about the Son
of God being born in Bethlehem, he talked about that one whose
goings forth are from old, eternal. Now it's hard to talk about the
origin of somebody who's eternal. Here we have it, the eternal
son of God. He's called in Revelation chapter
13, verse eight, the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Isn't that glorious? He is the
lamb having been slain from the foundation of the world. You know, he's the one who said,
let us make man in our own image. He is the promised seed of woman
which should come and crush the serpent's head. It was he who
spake with Cain and Abel about their sacrifices. It was him
personally speaking to them. It was him who spoke to Noah
and gave him instructions regarding the ark, which was a great type
of himself. It was he who appeared to Abraham. And Matthew begins the gospel
with the Lord's physical genealogy all the way back to Abraham. Now Luke begins all the way back
to Adam, but Matthew doesn't do that. He only goes to Abraham,
but notice he mentions both David and Abraham in verse one. The
book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the
son of Abraham. The Christ was promised to both
of these men. In your seed, all the earth shall
be blessed. But let's read this genealogy. If I mispronounce some words,
forgive me. I will try not to. Verse two. Abraham begat Isaac, Isaac begat
Jacob, Jacob begat Judas and his brethren, Judas begat Phares,
and Zerah of Tamar, and Phares begat Esram, and Esram begat
Aram, and Aram begat Abinadab, and Abinadab begat Nason, and
Nason begat Salmon, and Salmon begat Boaz of Rahab, and Boaz
begat Obed of Ruth, And Obed begat Jesse, I'm sure you're
familiar with many of these names. And Jesse begat David the king,
and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife
of Uriah. And Solomon begat Rehoboam, and Rehoboam begat Abiah, and
Abiah begat Asa, and Asa begat Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat
begat Joram, and Joram begat Ozias, and Ozias begat Jotham,
and Jotham begat Agaz, and Agaz begat Ezekiah, and Ezekiah begat
Manasseh, and Manasseh begat Amnon, and Amnon begat Josiah,
and Josiah begat Jeconias, and his brethren about the time they're
carried away to Babylon. And after they were brought to
Babylon, Jeconias begot Salathiel, and Salathiel begot Zerubbabel,
and Zerubbabel begot Abiud, and Abiud begot Elechim, and Elechim
begot Azor, and Azor begot Sadoch, and Sadoch begot Achim, and Achim
begot Eliad, and Eliud begot Eleazar, and Eleazar begot Mathon,
and Mathon begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of
Mary who was born Jesus, of whom was born Jesus who is called
Christ. Now this is given to show us
that he is the rightful heir of the throne, the son of David. You see, the Old Testament paints
a portrait of Christ so we can identify him from the Old Testament. And he is the rightful heir of
the throne of David, the son of David, yet David's Lord, as
Revelation 22, 16 states, the root and the offspring of David,
the source of David and the son of David, the one of which the
father said, behold, the days come saith the Lord that I will
raise unto David a righteous branch. And a king shall reign
and prosper and shall execute judgment upon the earth. In his
days, Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And
this is the name wherewith he shall be called Jehovah Tzadkinu,
the Lord our righteousness." Isn't that glorious? Also, not only tells us he's
David's seed, but he's Abraham's seed, the son of Abraham. These are the two men the Lord
appeared to and said, the seed is coming through you. Look in
Galatians chapter three for just a moment. Verse seven. Know ye therefore
that they which are of faith, The same are the children of
Abraham. You're not a child of Abraham because you're born in
Israel. You're not a child of Abraham because you're a physical
Jew. Those who are of faith are the true children of Abraham. And the scripture, verse eight,
and the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen
through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying,
shall all nations be blessed." That's talking about his seed
in thee, that one in thee shall all nations be blessed. Turn
back to Genesis 12. The reason for these genealogies
is to show us that Christ is the true seed of Abraham, he's
the true rightful heir of the throne of David. Verse one, now
the Lord had said unto Abraham, get thee out of thy country and
from thy kindred, from thy father's house, unto the land that I show
thee, and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless
thee and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing.
And I will bless them that bless thee and curse them that curseth
thee, and in thee, shall all the families of the earth be
blessed. That's talking about the seed.
Look in chapter 15, after these things, the word of the Lord
came into Abram in a vision saying, fear not Abram. I am thy shield
and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, Lord, God, what
wilt thou give unto me? Seeing I go childless and the
steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus. And Abram said,
behold, to me thou hast given no seed, and no one born in my
house is mine heir, a servant. Behold, the word of the Lord
came into him saying, this shall not be thine heir, but he that
shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
And he brought him forth abroad and said, look now toward heaven
and tell the stars that thou be able to number them. And he
said unto them, so shall thy seed be. And he didn't have any
kids yet. And he believed in the Lord and
was counted unto him for righteousness. Look in chapter 17. And when Abraham was 90 years
old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abraham and said unto him,
I am the almighty God, all powerful, omnipotent. Walk
before me and be thou perfect, and I'll make my covenant between
me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abraham
fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, As for me,
behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of
many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram,
but thy name shall be called Abraham, for a father of many
nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding
fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come
out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee,
and thy seed after thee in their generations, for an everlasting
covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. Verse
7, 18. And Abraham fell upon his face
and laughed and said in his heart, shall a child be born unto him
that's a hundred years old and shall Sarah that is nine years
old bear? And Abraham said unto God, oh, that Ishmael might live
before thee. And God said, Sarah thy son shall
bear thee a son indeed. And thou shalt call his name
Isaac and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting
covenant and with his seed after him, the seed of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now this refers to what every
believer is in Christ. He's the seed and we are Abraham's
seed. Every believer is. Children of Abraham. What a glorious honor. children
of Abraham. If ye be Christ's, then are ye
Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise." Once again,
this is not about a physical Jew, but a spiritual Jew. Abraham,
the Jew. Todd, the Jew. We are the circumcision. We're the true Jews, which worship
God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence
in the flesh. Now turn back to Matthew chapter
one. Verse 17. So all the generations from Abraham
to David are 14 generations. And from David into the carrying
away into Babylon are 14 generations. And from the carrying away into
Babylon into Christ are 14 generations. A generation is 40 years. That's
what I've read anyway. That's what everybody says. I
don't see in the Bible where it says it's 40 years, but that's
what I read, a generation is a 40 year period of time. So
we read a 42 generations, which would amount to 1680 years between
Abraham and the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there
are a whole lot of people mentioned in these verses. Some are believers, some are
not believers, but 14 sets of 40 years. And 40 has a great significance. It speaks of a time of testing.
Moses was tested 40 years in the desert. When the flood came,
rain came down for 40 days. Moses was on Mount Sinai for
40 years. The children of Israel were 40
years in the wilderness. Goliath taunted Israel for 40
days. Nineveh was given 40 days to
repent. Elijah Fasted 40 days. Christ fasted 40 days before
his temptation in the wilderness. He was here on earth 40 days
after his resurrection. And 14 has significance. How long was the Paschal Lamb
to be examined? 14 days. Two sevens. And I feel quite
sure that that Those two sevens represent the perfect, absolute
deity and the perfect, absolute humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many lives lived during this
time, and it's gone from David, King David, the most powerful
man on earth, and it ends up how far this line had fallen,
Joseph, a carpenter. Nobody knew he was a descendant
of David. And they would have thought, what's it done for you?
Joseph, a carpenter. Another interesting thing about
this genealogy is there are five women mentioned. If you read
the other genealogies throughout the scripture, you're not going
to find women mentioned, but there are five women mentioned
in this genealogy. First, Tamar. You remember the
story of Tamar? She was Judah's daughter-in-law.
Her husband died. Judah promised he'd supply her
with a husband. He forgot. She poses as a prostitute. He comes into her. They have
a baby. And through that baby, the Christ
comes. Isn't that amazing? What about Rahab? Rahab was a
harlot. She was a prostitute. Through
her, the Christ comes. And then we have Ruth the Moabitess.
She was the great-grandmother of David. And most of you are
familiar with Bathsheba and what happened there. David, through
his unholy reunion with her, committed adultery, committed
premeditated cold-blooded murder, a total abuse of power. Through that union, we have Solomon. And then there's Mary. She's
not the mother of God, but she was used by God, conceived of
the Holy Ghost in her womb for the Christ to come. Now, this
is a reminder to us of Christ's identification with sinners.
Isn't it amazing, just the genealogy of the people through whom the
Christ came. Now look in verse 16 of Matthew
chapter one, and Jacob beget Joseph, the husband of Mary,
of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. Now what's pointed out in this
verse is the virgin birth of Christ. He didn't come through
Joseph. He came through Mary. Christ was born of a virgin. Somebody says that's impossible.
Not with God, for with God all things are possible. It's not
difficult for Him, and this was foretold in the scripture. Isaiah
7, verse 14 says, Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a
sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive. and bear a son, and thou shalt
call his name Immanuel. And look at the end of this chapter,
verse 22. Now all this was done that it
might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet,
saying, behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring
forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Immanuel, which being
interpreted is God with us. And there's something very powerful
about that. God with us. If I say I'm for
you, that's good. I'm for you. I'm behind you.
I wish you the best. But if I say I'm with you in
this, there's a difference. God with us. God with me. You can say that. God with us. You will remember Isaiah's announcement
in Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6. Unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. You see that son never was born.
That's the eternal son of God. But that child was born. And
the government shall be upon his shoulders." Still is, always
has been. He controls everything as the
absolute sovereign of the universe. His name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor. That doesn't mean somebody give
advice. That means His counsel is always done. He said, My counsel
shall stand. He decrees everything that takes
place. The mighty God the everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. Now this is the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with me to Luke chapter
one, beginning in verse 26. And in the sixth month, the angel
Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee named Nazareth. I think it's interesting. Did
you know Nazareth is not even mentioned in the Old Testament?
That's where the Lord lived. He was born in Bethlehem. but
he lived in Nazareth. You remember what, was it Nathaniel
who said, can anything good thing come out of Latin Nazareth? I
mean, that's the reputation this place had. It was, you take the
most backwards place you can think of, that's Nazareth. Now,
this angel Gabriel came to a virgin, a spouse to a man whose name
was Joseph of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary.
And the angel came unto her and said, Hail thou that art highly
favored, much grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed
art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was
troubled at the same. And cast in her mind what manner
of salutation this should be. She was afraid. She didn't know
what he was saying. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary,
for thou hast found favor with God, thou hast found grace with
God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive
in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name
Jesus. He shall be great, and shall
be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over
the house of Jacob for ever. And of his kingdom there shall
be no end. Then said Marianne to the angel, how should this
be? See, I know not a man. And the
angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come
upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee.
Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall
be called the Son of God. And behold, thy cousin Elizabeth,
she also hath conceived a son in her old age, and this is the
sixth month with her who is called barren. For with God nothing
shall be impossible. And Mary said, behold, the handmaid
of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed
from her. Now, what is the point of the
Lord being born of a virgin? There's probably a lot of people
would say, yeah, I believe the Lord was born of a virgin. They
think God can do anything. But why is this necessary for
him to be born of a virgin? Well, if he were born of the
seed of Adam, what would he be? A sinner. A sinner. A sinful man like me
and you. And that cannot be. Now David
said with regard to himself, behold, and I can say this too,
He said, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my
mother conceive me. I came out of the womb bad. I
came out of the womb sinful. I cannot express how sinful every
one of us are. I wish I could say it right,
but the only way to look at it is the cross. The cross tells
you how sinful you are. Not looking at the things you've
done, no, it's the cross that tells you the truth about yourself.
And we, the wicked are restrained from the womb, the scripture
says. They go about as soon as they be born speaking lies. Now
that is the state of all who are born of Adam. It's only in
being born of a virgin, conceived of the Holy Ghost, That he could
be, as the writer to the Hebrew says, holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners. Now the God-man, God manifest
in the flesh, came out of the womb like no other person has
done. Holy. When we're talking about holiness,
he was incapable of sin. He was incapable of committing
a sin. Holiness cannot sin. I've heard people object to that. If he couldn't sin, why did he
bother to do all this? Well, because he had to live
for you and I, but he could not sin. Holy, holy, holy. He came out of the womb untainted
by Adam's nature and he was made under the law and kept God's
law perfectly. He lived in Nazareth for 30 years. in obscurity. And those 30 years,
the father looked upon his son and said, my beloved son, in
whom I am well pleased. Oh, how the father esteemed and
loved and admired his son as he worked out that perfect righteousness,
keeping God's law perfectly, never having a sinful thought,
never having a sinful deed, of in anything he did." The Holy
Son of God. And what is amazing, his brothers
and sisters didn't get it. Now you think about this, this
amazes me. He never sinned and his brothers
and sisters did not get it. Now, Mary and Joseph did. I don't
know when Joseph went off the scene, but they had the angels
come to them. But his brothers and sisters, they spoke ill of
him in John chapter seven and incredulously of him. But here
he is for these 30 years, this holy man. And then he entered
his public ministry of holiness. Now, if he had sins of his own,
he couldn't bear our sins. That's why this is so important.
If he had sinned of his own, he could not take your sin to
himself because he himself was a sinner. And that's not so. He had no sins of his own. And because of that, who his
own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree. Because he was born of a virgin,
because he never sinned, he could bear the sins of his people. And what happened as a result
of him bearing those sins? Listen to Scripture. 1 John 3,
verses 4-6. Sin is the transgression of the
law. I read the Ten Commandments.
I love God's law, but the only conclusion I can come up with
is that all it does is condemn me. I've not kept one commandment
one time. And if you think you have, say,
I'm not that bad. You just don't know what the
law means then. You're ignorant of the meaning of the law. I
have not kept one commandment. one time. But the Lord kept the
law perfectly and he who was without sin, the scripture says,
bear our sins in his own body on the tree. Now who is the hour?
Does that mean he bore the sins of every son of Adam? No. It's speaking of the elect. That's pointed out in Matthew
121, it says, he shall save his people from their sins. He saved
those the father gave him. He bore their sins in his own
body on the tree. And everybody that he died for, he saved completely. I have no sin. Now remember, sin is the transgression
of the law. He was manifested to take away
our sins. Every individual sin that I've
ever committed, which I don't know what all they are, obviously,
but every individual sin that I've committed, Every individual
sin that all of God's elect committed, He bore in His own body on the
tree. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21
says, For He hath made him sin. Who knew no sin? He had never experienced sin. He'd never experienced anything
but perfect communion with his father, perfect obedience. But
he was made sin. And I don't know what all that
means. It's horrible, too horrible to describe. Him being made sin. But he bore our sins, the sins
of his people, the sins of all those who believe in his own
body on the tree. For he hath made him sin. Who knew no sin? that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. And here's what he did. As the
spotless lamb of God, born of the Virgin Mary, lived a perfect
life, he took my sins and my sorrows He made them his very
own. He bore the burden to Calvary
and suffered and died alone. Now, he came to save his people from
their sins. When he said it is finished,
they were saved from their sins. Verse 16, and Jacob begat Joseph,
the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called
Christ. God's prophet, God's priest,
and God's king. And if you rely on him only as
everything in your salvation, He is your Christ. He's your
prophet. He's your priest. He's your king. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
gift, the sacrifice, the accomplishments
of your son, in our behalf. Lord, we will not understand
the truth except as you make yourself known to us. And we
ask in Christ's name that you will make yourself known to every
one of us for Christ's sake. and that we might have some understanding
that we are, because of what your son did, the very righteousness
of God in him. Lord, we say that with fear,
with trembling, but yet knowing that that's what your word says,
enable us to believe for Christ's sake. In his name we pray, amen. Paul.