Matthew chapter one, go there with me now. Matthew chapter one, if you read this, you may think, well, what did all you just read have to do with this? Everything. This chapter is full of names and every single one of these people in these verses except one. are sinners and their lives were an absolute mess, but God.

This is the Lord's family tree. Are you in it? The fact of the matter is he is the tree. of life. He said that, didn't he? He said, I'm the vine, you are the branches. He's the root of the matter also. Christ is the tree of life. Our Lord chose his family. They say you can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family. Well, our Lord did both. He chose his family. And all the members of his family were sinners. He chose his friends, his friend sinners. That's all they were, a bunch of sinners. They said in derision of him, he's going to be the guest of sinners. Aren't you glad? Scripture says right in the middle of the Bible, Isaiah 53, 12, the last verse, he was numbered with the transgressors.

Genesis three, I had us read this because Christ is the seed of woman who came. I really believe that was Christ speaking to Adam and Eve, don't you? He's the word, he's the voice of God. He came walking, well he's the image of God. Firstborn, that is bodily in the world. For this purpose, to save sinners. Even the chief, we're gonna look at some of these names, they were Manasseh. Now if you're in his tree, If he's given you himself the tree of life, you will find your name here. That story. I remember my dad telling this story.

Cute, but it proves a point. This young girl named Edith was in the Sunday school class and, and came home and told her parents said that my name's in the Bible. And they said, no, honey, I think you're mistaken. Edith's not in. Yes, yes it is too. She said, the preacher said that this man received the sinners and Edith with them. Well, your name, name Bonnie or Teresa or Robin might not be in the Bible, but how about Rahab? Is that you? How about Bathsheba? Is that you? You know, Patrick's not there. I believe you're a saint. What about Jacob? Is that you?

See, this is our Lord's family. This man received the sinners. That's good news, isn't it? He came into this world to save sinners. His family tree proves it. He hung on a tree to prove it. That's what the Lord showed Admoni. They weren't confessing their sin till our Lord got that lamb, that innocent lamb, right before their eyes.

They didn't know what death was. They didn't know what they'd done. They didn't realize the magnitude of what they'd done. Sin against God. Reject their creator. That's what they did. It wasn't innocent. It would be a God. And that's what this whole world says. There's no God for me. Well, our Lord showed them.

He took that innocent lamb right before their eyes, alive, beautiful, without spot, without blemish, and took a knife right before their eyes and slit its throat. And that red blood poured out of that lamb. And they looked on in horror. And then he stripped that lamb of its covering. And they're standing there naked. And then he put that skin over top of their nakedness.

Do you think he did not tell them what he was doing? If everything our Lord did and said was in the scripture, the books couldn't contain it. He's telling them what he's doing. He's telling them what he's going to come to do to be stripped on Calvary's tree, to cover our nakedness by his own righteousness and to pay for our sins by his own precious blood. The one thing, the Lamb of God. He said, I was the Lamb of God.

Slain before the foundation of the world before you sinned Adam That God we purpose this for me to come into this world to save sinners And now this world is going to be an absolute full of sin Good Christ. I'm coming into the world to save sinners. Are you a sinner? And he'll show you that, that's what he'll show you, Christ crucified. If he purposed to save you, he'll tell you about the lamb that's coming, the woman's seed, and he'll show you Christ on the cross. And that will make you confess your sins. They both realized, Adam and Eve, it's our fault. This lamb died because we said no. Yeah, they did. They realized that. And God kicked them out. Okay. Because he said he would take the tree of life to live forever. That's Christ.

You know, the tree of life is in the beginning. And in chapter 22, it begins with the tree of life. That's Christ. Begins with verse one, you say, get to the text. The book, the book, Bible, Biblium, the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, life given, life began with Jesus Christ. In the beginning, God, that's Jesus Christ. In the end, Christ, he's the first, he's the last. He's the beginning of the book. Look at verse one, the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, look at verse 17.

So all the generations from Adam to David, David to Babylon, from Babylon to Christ are 14 generations. So it begins with Christ and it ends with Christ. He's the beginning and the ending. He's the one that began all this, created all this. For his glory, they were created. And his greatest glory is his salvation of sinners. That's why Christ came. That's why He created all of you. He's the first and He's the last. This is the book. And all through this book is His family tree of people like you and me, sinners. These are common, ordinary people.

It begins, verse 1, the son of David. Jesus Christ, the son of David. Now who is David? Why does it begin with David? And it ends with David, from Abraham to David and David to Babylon. Why David? Because God said of David, I've got a king, a man after my own heart. He's gonna rule my people and lead my people into the promised land. Defeat all my foes for me.

David represents the Lord Jesus Christ. David was literally born in Bethlehem, the house of bread, where was Jesus Christ born? Bethlehem. He is the bread come down from heaven. He's the son of David, though he didn't come from man, but he calls himself the son of David, because David was the first true king of Israel. And Christ was born King of Israel. Christ was King, God made Him Lord and King before the world began. King over all. King of kings and Lord of lords.

David. Now hold on now. Was David a noble man? Where'd David come from? When the Lord found David, he's out on the side of a hill watching the backside of sheep. A nobody, a nothing from nowhere. God chose him and called him and brought him in. A preacher named Samuel said, David, you're God's king. So God made him king and raised him up. What a great man. No, he's a sinner. He's a sinner saved by grace. He proved it when he was about 50 years old. He took another man's wife and killed that man to cover it up.

Can you imagine? It begins with David, a man who God showed more grace to arguably than any man in the scripture, but a man who sinned against God terribly. But God, rich in mercy, had him write a passage of scripture that we're gonna read to the day we die. Psalm 38, Psalm 51, Psalm 32, and nearly every other psalm. Psalms of sinners saved by grace. Is that you? Are you guilty if you haven't done it? You thought it. And only the grace of God kept you from it, right? There's only four, five women mentioned. Four of them are bad. Mary, the Virgin, the last Mary mentioned. We'll get to that in a minute.

Well, he's the son of Abraham. Who's Abraham? Where did Abraham come from? Well, he's the father of the Jews. Hold on now. He's a heathen. He's from Iraq. He's a Muslim. That's right, isn't it? He didn't know God. 75 years old. Abraham. He didn't believe in the God of the Bible. There was no Bible. He didn't believe the God of Adam and Eve. But God chose him, spoke to him, called him, revealed himself to him.

Abram, I made my covenant concerning you. You're mine. He revealed himself to him. 75 years old. Can you teach a 75-year-old Methodist anything? Southern Baptist, Pentecostal, can you change a heart and a mind and a life to a 75-year-old heathen? God did.

He does it all the time. Well, often. Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac. Oh, what a story that is. That's the son of promise, isn't it? I could spend a message on every name, certainly every verse. That's a picture, isn't it? Remember Abraham went up on the mountain to sacrifice his only begotten well-beloved son. spared that boy because there was a ram caught in a thicket behind him. That's Christ crucified. It all speaks to me.

This is the book of Christ, he said. Isaac beget Jacob. Oh my, happy is he that the God of Jacob. He said, I'm the God of Jacob. I am the Lord, I change not. My holiness, my justice. I will by no means clear the guilty. Holy, holy, holy Lord God of hope. But happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help. I'm the God of Jacob, therefore I don't change if I make a covenant, if I choose you, if I love you, set my love on you, if I sent Christ to die for you. I won't change my mind. You won't be consumed. This is Jacob. You know the story of Jacob?

His whole life was one mess after another. He had 12 sons and only two of them were worth anything. 10 of them were just worthless. He said so when he was dying and blessing them all. Why? Well, David said it, I was shapen in iniquity. In sin did my mother conceive me. I'm a son of Adam. I'm a son of Eve. And all of us are sons of Adam, sons of Eve.

Rebels against God. If God doesn't do something for us, if God doesn't show us Christ crucified, we'll die with our fist in God's face. Won't give him a thought. Who cares about Jesus Christ? Good God. God's good in him. Ain't none of these people deserve saving. Not one deserved a chance to be saved. Listen to me now. Salvation is not by chance.

It's by God's sovereign purpose. It's God's sovereign choice, not chance. It's not your choice, it's God's choice. If given a choice, like Adam and Eve, they said, no God for us, we'll be God. And that's what every son of Adam says coming out of the womb, like Jacob. Me first. No Jacob. Me, God says. I am. And I am your salvation. You'll destroy yourself unless I save you. Jacob.

Judas, look at verse two. Jacob begat Judah and his brethren. Judah begat Pharaoh and Zamar of Tamar. What about Judah? Well, we looked at Judah, the surety, didn't we? Beautiful story, but hold on. Judah lost his wife. The Lord took his wife. And he had a daughter-in-law named Tamar wed to his son. When his son died, God killed his son, whose name was Eir. That's significant, because he was wicked, and God killed him. He deserved to be killed, and God killed him. That's Tamar's husband.

Okay. Well, Judah promised his daughter-in-law another son to marry the brother that would marry her. And she wanted a child. Well, Judah forgot about that. And she didn't have a child, and she wanted a baby bad. She didn't want God. She wanted a baby.

Well, Judah lost his wife and went into town, and there was a whore. And he went into that whore. And you know who that whore was? It was his daughter-in-law, Tamar, dressed up like a harlot. And she had a baby from her father-in-law. It's a bad scene, isn't it? But these are people in God's line. These are in his family tree. This is what his people knew and have done. And such were some of you. Huh? Anybody?

It wasn't a whore. There's four women mentioned, and three of them were harlots. A harlot is someone who gives their body, who dresses up to look nice so she'll appeal to men. Anybody? Anybody? Harlot is someone who applies her trade, her flesh, to make money so she can have nice things. Anybody? Gives yourself to this world and your beauty and, you know, want a husband and want children and want things and all that. Don't want God, but want all these things.

Anybody? Anybody guilty? Everybody's guilty! But God. You can use those two words after every single example, but God. This is not funny. These sins are not funny at all. It's just sad. But God, in the purpose of God, in the line of Christ, in the lineage of the family tree of our Lord, this man came into the world to save sinners. You see, they can't save themselves. They can't get out of this mess. They can't do anything for themselves. Can't do it.

And amazingly, their sins, though horrible they are, yet in the purpose of God, it brings about the people of God, the kingdom of God, the Christ of God, It shows the mercy and the grace and the goodness of God, and it magnifies the word of God, the truth of man, the truth of God, the truth of Christ, the truth of salvation, truth of it all. This world lies, the God of this world is lying to man, you're good, everybody's good, everybody has a good, not good, no, not one, Christ said. Not one, there's not one good person in here. But God is good, and he shows us Here's the supreme goodness.

Adam and Eve brought it all on themselves. Every bit of it. And yet they blamed everybody else. And that's what this world is doing. It's my circumstances. It's my dad, my mother mistreating me, or this person mistreating me, or that person mistreating me. Look how I was raised and all that. Look how our Lord was raised. Poorest of the poor. It's everybody's fault, but mine. No, it's not. And this is what we need to come to see. It's all my fault.

And the only way we'll see that is see what it took for God to put away our sin, not us turning over a new leaf. That's what Adam and Eve did, try to cover their... How you gonna cover it with leaves? Shaking your fist in God's face. Rejecting God. Boy, I tell you, now it's gonna take bloodshed. It's gonna take our Lord being stripped of his righteousness. It's gonna take the wrath of God being poured out on a substitute on your behalf. Should have fell on you, but it's fell on him, you see.

See, it's not you doing anything. It's God, it's Christ, it's mercy. It's not merit, it's mercy. It's not you, well, I'm gonna quit sinning. You can't. You can't, try as you may, you can't. This magnifies the gospel. The gospel's a good news, and it's only good news for sinners.

We need to, all of us need to say, I'm Rahab. I'm Judah. I'm Tamar. Applying my flesh to try to find a man. All of us, right? Or you're not in His tree. You're not in His family if this is not you. Look at it, keep reading. Does it make you uncomfortable what I just told about Judah and Tamar? Yeah, it makes us uncomfortable. Well, brothers and sisters, if we peel back the flesh and open up the roofs of houses everywhere, if we just open up our own hearts, you wouldn't show your face in here again. You know that? Look at verse five, Salmon beget Boaz of Rahab, Boaz.

Who's Boaz? Kinsman, Redeemer. How many people know the story of Boaz, what that's all about? They just think about Ruth. Ruth's great faith, Ruth's great sacrifice, don't they? They think the book of Ruth's about Ruth. It's not really, it's about Boaz. And you know that, don't you? Teresa's secondary, I love Teresa, she sits there all the time doing that. She must be a sinner, you must be a rayhead, you must be a Ruth. I'm glad, this is for you. I'm preaching to you, you and me, okay? Boaz, is that your salvation? A kinsman redeemer come to redeem you, this poor, wretched, vile, heathen woman. Ruth, where'd she come from? Where in the world did Ruth come from? Nowhere, nowhere, nobody from nowhere. A Moabite, stranger to God. But God, look at what all God did to bring that sorry woman who never gave God a thought.

All she was interested in was a husband and children in Moab. Far from God, but God. Killed people. Took her husband. Took her father-in-law. took away her family and everything, to bring her to Boaz, to bring her to marry her kinsman redeemer, to bring her to the land of bread, Bethlehem, to show her, you don't deserve to be saved, but I'm rich in mercy and grace and love, and I brought you to your kinsman redeemer, a long way off, I brought you to your savior, who Boaz is a picture of Jesus Christ. And she realized, Ruth realized that she didn't make any sacrifice at all. She left.

Don't make a sacrifice. Left your home and family. God's going to take it all anyway. He gave you a family you'll never lose. He'll give you a home you'll never lose. He'll give you a husband you'll never lose. He'll never depart from you. He's gonna take that husband, but he'll not give you a divorcement. He'll not leave you ever.

And you're gonna be like Ruth someday. Who am I? And what is my habit that you brought me here to marry this wonderful man? That's all in the line of David. Rahab, Boaz of Rahab. Ruth was, I better not get this wrong because this is all from the beginning to the end. Ruth was the, say Boaz, Rahab was Boaz's mother, okay. Rahab was Boaz's mother. Who's Rahab?

She was a harlot. living in Jericho, and God cursed that place. There's not one good person in this whole city, and I'm gonna destroy the whole city. But God sent two men with the message of God and created a fear of God in one harlot, one. He didn't go into that city and say, would anybody like to accept? No, no, no, no, no. He sent these two men to this one woman in private and told them about the fear of God that he's going to destroy this place.

And Rahab feared the Lord and asked for mercy. And he said, okay, I'm going to show you a token of my goodness. There's a scarlet line in your house and you didn't know it. Tie that scarlet line in your window, Rahab. And when I see that scarlet line, like when God said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. My men are going to come and get you and bring you out of this place I'm going to destroy and take you all the way to Jerusalem where Joshua lives. And the scripture says, John, she's still there. She's still there. Are you a Rahab? Once again, a woman just plying her trade, plying her flesh. That's all she thinks about. That's all she thinks. But God thought on her in mercy and grace and sent two preachers of the gospel and put the fear of the Lord in her. Well, Rahab married Boaz. No, Rahab married Salmon, and Boaz was their son. They had a boy named Boaz, okay? Well, remember, he met Ruth. Now, here's the story. Who's Ruth? Remember, I just told you. She's a nobody. She's a heathen. She wasn't thinking about God. Who's Rahab? Harlot. But chosen, loved in God. All right?

Ruth had a, Rahab had a son named Boaz, okay? And Ruth met Boaz, picture of Christ. And married, and so Ruth came home one day to meet Boaz's parents. This happened, it always does. I remember when I, you know, had to face my in-laws. But Ruth came to Rahab's house, Boaz's mother, and said, Miss Rahab, I've heard so much about you.

Your son says nothing good things about you. People that know you and love you, Miss Rahab. Ruth said, I don't deserve to be in this family. I sure am thankful to be a member of this family now, to marry your son Boaz. Oh, God has been so good to me, Rahab, and to bringing me into your family, bringing me here to Bethlehem. God's so good to me. And Rahab said, honey, you just don't know. You don't know my story. Honey, we're just a couple of sinners saved by grace. That's what he said. Read on. I got to hurry. All right. Go on down to verse 6.

Jesse begat David the king. David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Uriah. That's Bathsheba. Now David and Bathsheba. A horrible story. David suffered the rest of his life because of that sin. He never got over it. He said, against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil on thy side. He said, my sin is ever before me. Saul of Tarsus, who became Paul, he said, I'm the chief of sinners.

He held the coats of a bunch of men, he was a young man, a rich, young ruler. He was a rich, young ruler. And he held the coats of people while Stephen, that man of God, was preaching the truth and everybody hated him. And they took up stones and they were bashing the brains out of Stephen.

And Saul of Tarsus, yeah, hit him harder. Kill him. I don't believe this stuff. I hate what he's preaching. Kill him. Yeah, take another one. Now stomp on him. Saul of Tarsus, Paul, he said, did he deserve to be saved? Mm-mm, he knew it. He never got over that. He said, I'm the chief of sinners, old wretched man that I am. Didn't he? David said, mm-mm. Against thee and thee only have I done this, David.

Well, they had a son named Solomon. God took that boy that was born of Bathsheba and David. He killed that son. An illegitimate son born out of sin. Born in sin. But you know what God did with that boy? Took him to glory. Spared him a life of sin. Now Solomon came. The wisest man. Solomon. Now there's a good man. There's a wise man. Every man at his best state is altogether vanity and sinful. But by the grace of God, he'll do anything.

That's what Solomon did. He had a thousand wives, 300 wives, 700 concubines. Isn't that awful? And a bunch of them were unbelieving wives, and he set up idols for them. Solomon, what are you thinking? He wasn't. He's a sinner. I mean, I brought him to himself. Rehoboam, his son, oh, he was a bad one. Throughout these verses, you'll find names like Rehoboam, Begedabai, verse seven, and Asa. Asa, he was a good king. Jehoshaphat, oh, he was a good man. Somewhat. But he went into business with, he was a friend with Ahab, a wicked, vile man, Ahab's son.

And Jehu came to Jehoshaphat one day and said, Should you love those that hate your Lord? Why are you friends with those that hate your God? Huh? That's a good question. That's what Jehoshaphat did. Anybody? Well, go on, it says in verse nine, Ahazbeget Ezekias, that's Hezekiah, he's a good king. Well, he was, by the grace of God, but he sinned too. They all did. Read on, verse 11, or verse 10, Hezekiah beget Manassas. Ooh, have you read the story of Manassas? When's the last time you read the story of Manassas?

God said there's never been a man worse than him. Never. Not before him, not after him. That's what God said. But you know what? God humbled him. It says he humbled himself and called on the Lord and prayed to the Lord. And Patrick, you know, it says the Lord was entreated and the Lord heard him and the Lord brought him out of captivity and that he died in his days in relative peace. God's good in it. My, my. Josiah, what a picture of Christ.

And in verse 12, they were brought to Babylon. All of them, the whole mess ended up in Babylon. That's where we live right now, isn't it? Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel in his line. Read Zechariah 4. It's irrevable as a picture of Christ. And on and on it goes down to verse 16.

Jacob begat Joseph, husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who's called the Christ, this young virgin. He's only a virgin by the grace of God, by the restraining grace of God, that's why. But she was a sinner too, she knew it. She said, my soul rejoices in God my savior. She said, he's had mercy on me. Christ in her, her hope of glory. Mary's best friend was a harlot named Mary Magdalene. And Mary, the former virgin thought, I don't deserve to be Mary Magdalene's friend. I'm such a sinner. And only sinners can understand that.

Hmm. So all the generations, verse 17, I quote, from Abraham to David, 14 generations, David to the carried away to Babylon and from Babylon to Christ. That's the end of the generation, okay? Now we're in the last days, 4,000 years. Now we're in the last 2,000, the end of those.

All right, all those people that we just mentioned, you find one good man, was there one good? You find one good in that. No, not one. One righteous man. A just man on the earth that doeth good and sinneth not. Could you find one? I told you a brief story and it doesn't count. Yes, there's one. Only one. It began and it ended with one. I was gonna sing that song this morning. Is there anyone can help us? Yes, there's one. Only one. The Savior and God sent him.

And now we're in Babylon. in this world of sin and captivity. It started in the garden, and like Genesis 6, it's just, it's a mess. Come now, let's reason together. It says in the end, in Genesis 22, come, anybody thirsty? Come, take the water of life, tree of life, for the fruit, the fruit leaves the healing of the nation, the covenant. Come now, you thirsty? come to Christ, a Savior of sinners. Okay, let's stand and sing number 474. Would you