Matthew chapter 1, I felt led
for us to be here this morning, and the Lord willing, we will
be here in both this Bible study and in the message in a moment.
This, to me, is a very special place to be. I love being in
this chapter. I truly adore it. This is just
such a special place to be. Now, when I say things like that,
I never mean to diminish any other part of the word of God.
Never. Every word in the scripture is
special because it's a word from God. But I only mean to emphasize
that we can very clearly see that right here. Very, very clearly. That's very much the case right
here. Matthew chapter one is the announcement
of our dear Savior's birth. And that thought, you know, through
the gospels and just the thought of that event, that night, that
he was born, just in the fact that that happened. That is so
comforting to me. That is so calming to me. Do you think that when you think
about that night that he was born and the events that happened,
it's so restful, it's just so peaceful and so calming and comforting. And in the same way that Genesis
1, 1, The very first verse in the very first book in the Bible,
the same way that Genesis 1.1 perfectly sets up everything
that's going to be said in the Old Testament. In the beginning,
God, in that same way, Matthew 1.1 perfectly sets up everything
that's going to be said in the New Testament. Verse one says,
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ. I love that. I love that. That tells us exactly
what this is. That tells us exactly what we're
holding. This is the book of the generation
Of Jesus Christ. This book is all about the life. You notice it says generation,
not it's going to go on and say, now these are the generations
of all these other people, but this is the generation. This
book is all about the life. It's all about the will and the
work and the purpose and the accomplishment of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's all about him. That's what
this book is. This book tells us who he is. Verse one says, this is Jesus
Christ. Jesus Christ, the book of the
generation of Jesus Christ. What does that mean? You know,
the Lord asked Peter one time, Who do you say that I am? He
asked Peter, who do other men say that I am? And Peter said,
well, they say a lot of things. He said, Peter, who do you say
I am? Peter said, thou art the Christ. That means something. It's not
just, you know, we roll it off the tongue, Jesus Christ. That
means something. What does that mean? Look at
the last three words of verse 23. The very last three words of
verse 23 say, God with us. That's what it means
to say that this particular, as you go down through these
names, this particular Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. That's what the Christ means.
It means God with us. Lord is His name of deity, God. Jesus is His name of humanity.
And Christ is the name of both. God with us. Now, that's the
amazing thing about Matthew chapter one. From this genealogy that's
given, which most people, when they read a bunch of names that
so-and-so begat so-and-so, and you just kind of Jump over that
and let's get into what counts and what matters. Well, these
names in these names that are given, there is no doubt that
this is a man born in the line of men. He, he gives us the names. But from the entire prophecy
of the old Testament, everything that was said in the old Testament,
describing exactly who Emmanuel would be, everything in the old
Testament was written to say, somebody's coming. It's the whole
reason the old Testament was written. The whole thing said,
somebody's coming. The gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John say, he came. And then all of the prophets
of the apostles and the letters written afterwards said, he's
coming back. So everything that was in the
old Testament describing who Emmanuel would be, who would
send him and what he would accomplish. There's no doubt that this is
God. This is God born of God. Verse 20, the end of verse 20
says conceived of the Holy ghost. This son of man is the incorruptible,
holy son of God. Now that's what this whole genealogy
is telling us. This Bible study and this message
that we're going to have here in just a moment, both of them
are going to revolve around verse 21. And it says, she shall bring
forth a son and shall call his name Jesus. For He shall save
His people from their sins. In this Bible study, I'd like
for us to see who He came to save. And in the message in a
moment, we're gonna see who it is that came to save. In this
Bible study, we're gonna see the saved. And then in the message,
we're gonna see the Savior. All right, now. Who did Christ
come to save? Who did He come to save? Who
are the saved ones? I'd love to know the answer to
that. We need to know the answer to that. Who are the saved ones?
Who did He leave glory and come to this earth to save? If you look at verse 21 again,
it says, thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save
His people, His people. That's who he came to say. That's
who the saved ones are. His people. What does that mean? What does that mean? His people
turn with me to John 17. John 17 verse one says, these
words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said,
father, the hour is come. Glorify thy son that thy son
also may glorify thee as thou has given him power over all
flesh that he should give eternal life. That means save that he
should save. that he should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him. He said, father, you sent
me to give eternal life to every soul that you gave to me. As
many as thou hast given me, he said, those are my people. The
ones you gave to me. And he said, I did what you sent
me to do. Verse four. He said, I have glorified
thee on the earth. I have finished the work, which
thou gave us me to do. Verse six. He said, I have manifested
thy name unto the men. which thou gavest me out of the
world, thine they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have
kept thy word. He said, father, the ones you
gave to me, those are my people. Verse nine, he said, I pray for
them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine and all
mine are thine, And thine are mine and I'm glorified in them. So that's who his people are.
The ones that his father gave to him. Now, what we want to
look at for this Bible study is who are they? All right, we
can say, well, he came to save his people. What does that mean?
Who are his people? Well, it's all the ones that
the father gave to him. All right, well, who are they?
What does that mean? Who did the Father give to Him? Who exactly did Christ come to
save? Go with me back to Matthew 1. This genealogy of names, this
represents His people. That's the reason these names
were given. He had people who lived before this genealogy of
names, and he has people who now live after this genealogy
of names, but this list of people represents who he came and identified
with, who he called his own. These are the people that he
said were his people. He said, these are his own words,
he said, Abraham is my friend. Oh, to be called the friend of
God. He said, David is a man after my own heart. That's what
he said. So let's look at some of these
names. I, I did try to look up. A lot of these names and there's
many of them that you just can't find anything on the story of
their life, except that they lived and they existed. We wouldn't
have time to look at all these anyway, but let's look at some
of the ones that are well known. And as we do, let's remember,
these are Christ's people. All right. This is who he identified
with. These are the people that God
selected to represent all of his people. Verse one says the
book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the
son of Abraham. So he goes all the way back to
Abraham. That's where this particular genealogy begins. It begins with
Abraham. Abraham, as you think of some
of these well-known people in the old Testament, you know,
the stories that the Lord recorded concerning these men. Abraham
was an idol worshiper. That's what Abraham was for 75
years of his life. He did not worship the true and
living God. He worshiped the gods of his
imaginations, but this is what happened. God came to him and
God called Abraham and God saved Abraham. God did that after God
did that. And I want to emphasize that
not before, but after God did that, after God came to him,
called him. revealed salvation to him after
God saved him, this is what Abraham did. On numerous occasions, he
lied about his wife actually being his wife. It happened once,
that's bad enough. It happened again and again.
On numerous occasions, he lied about his wife actually being
his wife. And he told all these strange
men that his wife was actually his sister, so they would not
kill him for her. And he watched them take his
wife away on dates and watched her go just so he could save
his own skin. You know, he said, they're gonna
kill me. They're gonna have their way with me. Well, so is the answer, let
them have her. Now here's the glorious thing
about that. Our God, to his glorious testimony, protected Sarah every
single time. Abraham and all his wickedness
watched her go. God protected her every single
time in spite of Abraham's wickedness and horribleness. All right,
but that's what he did. That's not all that he did. We
have the stories. Abraham is known for some other
things too. Abraham left the covenant of
his marriage and he had an illegitimate child. with an employee of the
family. The worst part about that is
he did it all in the name of accomplishing the Lord's work.
He said, God needs me to help him accomplish his purpose, which
is what false religion says. God needs me to help him accomplish
his purpose. God can't do this alone. He needs
my work. He needs me to get involved.
So that's what Abraham did. thinking God needs me to help
him. God said, no, I don't. No, I don't need you to help
me. Abraham's life was tabloid material. That's what it was. Could he really be one of God's
people? God said he was. God said he's
my friend. I love him. God made a covenant with him,
covenant of blood, a covenant of promise with Abraham, Abraham. All right. Verse two says, Abraham
begat Isaac. Now, do you know, you may or
may not remember that Isaac did the exact same thing his father
did. Exact same thing. He lied and
said that his wife, Rebecca was his sister. So he wouldn't be
killed over her. Same thing. Isaac is, you know,
in all of these stories, a story of Abraham, Isaac, all the stories,
they're all pictures of Christ. Isaac is a glorious picture of
Christ, the promised son, but in his flesh, the reality is
the apple did not fall far from the tree. He was just like his
father, Abraham. All right, verse two says, and
Isaac begat Jacob. Now, do we really need to spend
the time to go into Jacob's life? All you have to do is say his
name. This is what comes to your mind. Trickster, supplanter,
liar, cheat, you worthless, no good. Look at how that good fine
boy was out there doing what his father told him to do. And
look at what you did. He deceived his own father, stole from his
own brother. He took what rightfully was not
owed to him. His brother's birthright. Verse
two says, and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren, or Judah. the
son of Jacob, the son of whose name was changed to Israel, Judah,
all right? Judah and his brethren sold their
younger brother, Joseph. They put him in a pit. They put
their youngest brother in a pit because they were so jealous
over Jacob's love for that boy. And when a bunch of gypsies were
coming by, Judah was the one, out of the other 11, Judah was
the one who said, let's sell him. for 20 pieces of silver. Judah was the one. Verse three
says, and Judas begat Phares and Zara of Tamar. Tamar was
Judah's daughter-in-law. And let just let that sink in. Tamar was Judah's daughter-in-law. Phares and Zarah are Judah's
illegitimate incestual children. Judah's son, who Tamar was married
to, he was a wicked man and God slew him. And Tamar wanted a
child, so she disguised herself and tricked her father-in-law
into thinking that she was a harlot. and those two boys were born. And you could say, well, he didn't
know, she tricked him. She didn't tell him and tricked
him. Yeah, but he still solicited a harlot. All right, look down at verse
five. It says, and Salmon begat Boaz, who is Boaz from the book
of Ruth. Salmon begat Boaz of Rakeb. And another way of saying her
name is Rahab. who was actually by profession
a harlot. Rahab the harlot. Don't we love
the story of Ruth? Don't you love hearing about
Boaz, this great man, nearer kinsman, the one who had the
right to redeem this woman? Well, think about this. Rahab
was Boaz's mother. Rahab the harlot, Boaz's mother. All right. Verse five says, and
Boaz begat Obed of Ruth. Ruth was a Moabitess woman. She was of the land of Moab.
Moab, the man was Lot's incestual son. And I don't even want to
go into that story, but that's who Moab was. And the people
who descended from him, the Moabites, they were the openly, openly
sworn enemies of God and the openly sworn enemies of the children
of Israel. They hated the true and living
God. And they hated all who worshiped
the true and living God. Verse six says. And Jesse begat
David the King. And if we stopped right there,
we could say, what a real honor. Jesse begat David the King, but
it goes on to say, and David the King begat Solomon of her
that had been the wife of Uriah. of all the things that could
have been said about David. You think about all the stories
given on David. That's what God chose to record
about David in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ. David
was victorious over all his enemies. He slew Goliath, delivered the
nation. But God said, write it down.
This was the reality of David's flesh. David was a murderer. and an adulterer. Even David himself, he had to
hear thou art the man. Even David himself, when God's
people, when the spirit of God comes to each one, this is what
he says to them. Thou art the man. You ever feel
convicted as you hear the truth of sin? Do you ever hear the
Spirit of God say to your heart, thou art the man? Even David
the king had to hear thou art the man. Verse 11 says, And Josias
begat Jeconias and his brethren about the time they were carried
away to Babylon. All of God's chosen people were
carried away captive into Babylon for 70 years. And it was all
because of their sin against God. Every name that's written right
here. Every name that's written was a sinner against God. That's
who they were. Sinners against God. That's who God's people
are. I hope we can enter into that.
That's who God's people are. They're all sinners against him. Verse 16 says, but God. It says, and Jacob begat Joseph,
the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called
Christ. Thank God. Thank God. One man born into the world. Not one sin can be mentioned
about him. Thank God, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the savior of sinners. That's who Christ came to save.
Real sinners. I mean, real sinners call his
name, Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins, from
their sins. Now I will close. I'll be very
brief here, but I want to show you just a few scriptures in
closing. Turn to Matthew nine. Matthew 9 verse 10. And it came to pass as Jesus
sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came
and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees
saw it, they said unto his disciples, why eateth your master with publicans
and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he
said unto them, they that behold need not a physician, but they
that are sick, but go ye and learn what that meaneth. Go ye
and learn what that meaneth. I pray the Lord will teach us
this. If we don't know what this means,
ask Him. Pray to Him and ask Him to teach
you what this means. He said, go ye and learn what
that meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I am not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance. Sinners, not just little sinners,
great sinners. Turn very quickly with me to
Romans five. Romans five, verse six, it says,
For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ
died for thee." Little small white liars. No, sir. The ungodly. Scarcely for a righteous man
will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. But God commended his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. us, much more than being justified
by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him." Being
justified by His blood. You know the only good thing
that can be said about God's people? The blood of Jesus Christ
on them. That's it. That's it. That's the only hope that ungodly
sinners have, being justified in the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Here's the good news for all
ungodly sinners. That's who He shed His blood
for. That is who He shed His blood for, ungodly sinners. Now, is that what you are? What are you? Not what were you? Everybody says, everybody says,
buddy, I'll tell you what I used to be. I'll tell you, you wouldn't
believe what I used to be. Here's my question. What are
you? We're not gonna turn to it. You
know it, it's in the bulletin today. 1 Timothy 1 15, the apostle
Paul said, this is a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief. I am chief." This is our reality
before God. In our flesh, we're ungodly sinners. Here's the glorious news of the
gospel. Jesus Christ came into the world
to save ungodly sinners. Call His name Jesus. He'll save
His people from their sins. I'll tell you, if you're a wretched
sinner before God, that is good news. That's good news. That's
who God saved. In just a moment, Lord willing,
we'll see who the Savior is. You're dismissed.