The Genealogy of Jesus | Matthew 1:1-17 | Eric Yee

Speaking of the work of the gospel around the world, it is my privilege today to introduce our guest speaker and world partner, Eric Yi.

He did a fabulous job in the first service, and I think you will be blessed today.

He and his wife Tina and their kids are here with us.

After the service, they'll be at the Welcome Center.

I invite you to stop by and hear about the work that they're doing in Indonesia, and Eric will share more about that.

They're stirring missionaries with World Venture.

And as you know, I'm I'm on the World Venture Board of Directors.

I came away last week just encouraged by what God is doing, both uh you know in Indonesia and around the world through our global workers.

Uh, World Venture seeks to engage the world with gospel impact and make disciples strengthen local churches and support workers in difficult places in both who are both inspiring and trustworthy.

And so I think you'll be very blessed by Eric today.

He's gonna introduce himself and then he's gonna bring God's word.

One last note.

We we last week we started a series on the book of Jonah.

We're gonna be continuing that next week.

Eric's gonna be bringing the word today from Matthew chapter one.

So, Eric, come on up on the stage and let's give him a round of applause as well.

Uh good morning, everyone.

My name is Eric.

I pastor an English-speaking church in Jakarta, Indonesia.

It's called Harvest Baptist Church.

Um, let me begin to share a bit about my family and our ministry in Indonesia, and then we'll jump into the sermon today.

So here's a picture of my family.

That's me, my wife Tina in the picture.

She's also right here if you'd like to see her.

And my two boys are also here with us in the service: Caleb, who's nine, and Micah, who will be turning seven in a few months.

For the last 16 years, we've been building healthy churches that make Christ's disciples to reach the unchurched, unwanted, unreached, and unengaged in Indonesia.

In 2010, our church in Michigan sent me and Tina as singles at the time to Indonesia to help with a church plant in the suburbs of Jakarta.

And then in 2015, we got married and we were sent out again to plant another church in the city of Jakarta, which is where we are now.

Indonesia is the fourth largest populated country in the world, with around 290 million people, and it is the largest Muslim-populated country in the world as well.

Jakarta is the capital city, again, that's where we are, with around 12 million people in the city proper.

And it was recently named the largest city in the world with around 42 million people in the Jakarta metropolitan area.

As a brief update, I'll just share five highlights from our church ministry.

First, we have a member who became a Christian through our church back in 2020.

She's the woman holding the child in that baptism picture.

Five years later, uh, this past July, her husband also placed his faith in Jesus and got baptized into church membership.

And our whole church was able to celebrate with them because we've been praying for him in particular, because they were both unbelievers when they were married.

She became a believer.

And now, five years later, as we've been studying the Bible with him, walking with him, praying with him, he came to know Christ and we baptized him last July.

Second update is that we have six Indonesian brothers in our pastoral internship where they're reading and writing weekly papers on scripture, church history, and pastoral ministry.

We discuss those papers together about every other week, and they're getting opportunities to preach at our monthly prayer gathering as well.

We only have two pastors right now, me and another brother.

So we're praying that God would raise up more Indonesian elders in our church.

Uh, third, uh, to better equip our members to read, understand, and teach God's Word, we had eight brothers go through the Simeon Trust First Principles cohort last year, and seven sisters go through it this year.

So they were stretched to think about uh the structure of different biblical passages, the context, and making gospel uh connections uh in unfamiliar passages like Amos and Nahim, and also in more familiar passages like Philippians and Mark.

And it's just been encouraging to see a deeper hunger for God's word in our congregation at large.

Uh, fourth, Anak Harappan Indonesia is a learning center that members in our church started several years ago in a slum area of Jakarta, and they focus on teaching literacy.

So over the years, they've had their first student graduate high school, which is rare in that community.

And because of the trust that has been built over the years, they've also uh hosted their first Christmas event last year where the gospel was shared, and all the families and children could hear it.

Uh, just bear in mind that this slum community is predominantly Muslim.

Uh, so uh this is probably the first time that some have even heard the gospel clearly articulated.

And then next month, uh we're holding a uh a vacation Bible school for the very first time with the kids in the community, and the community is welcoming it, where we'll have the opportunity to explicitly teach the Bible, share the gospel over four days.

So you'll be praying for that as well.

Uh, fifth and last update is that we are now supporting uh six Papuan missionary units, uh, singles or families from one tribe in Papua, that's East Indonesia, to reach another unreached people group in Papua.

Uh they were first reached with the gospel over 20 years ago from other faithful missionaries.

And since then, they've become a healthy local church.

They've matured as Christ's followers have raised up and identified their own elders, and they are now sending out their own missionaries to reach another tribe.

20 years later, when that when the first missionaries went there, no gospel at all.

Twenty years later, healthy church established long-term witness and now sending their own missionaries.

So we praise God for that.

Uh so thank you for your partnership in the gospel, for praying, supporting, and rejoicing alongside of us, even hearing some of these brief updates.

If you'd like to know more, you can also ask us.

We'd love to add you to our newsletter as well.

Uh, my family and I, we are thankful to be part uh of NBC as world partners.

And if you'd like to know more about our church ministry in Indonesia or just about missions, perhaps you yourself are an aspiring missionary.

We'd love to talk to you more after the service.

We'll be at the Welcome Center in the back.

Uh now it's my privilege to preach the Word of God for us today.

Uh today we are turning to the opening pages of the New Testament, the Gospel of Matthew, and we are looking at the genealogy of Jesus.

I know that MBC has been emphasizing missions in this season, and I know that this is a very missions-minded church, which I've been so encouraged by.

Even uh last night uh we stayed over at Jan and Judy's place, Yvonne came over as well, the chair of the missions committee, and we're just sharing and asking about the different missionaries that you're supporting and how you guys are involved locally and abroad in missions.

It's so encouraging.

Now, you might be wondering what does a genealogy have to do with missions?

Now, don't forget that the Gospel of Matthew ends with the Great Commission, that Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth.

And as Christians in local churches, we are to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey all that Christ has commanded until the end of the age.

That is the mission statement of every single local church around the world.

And that's what missions is all about.

But we don't have to wait until the end of the Gospel of Matthew to see this.

We get glimpses of it even very even right here at the very beginning in Jesus' genealogy.

So let's get right into today's sermon.

I grew up watching a lot of TV series, um, dating myself a little bit, but Power Rangers, Spider-Man, Dragon Ball Z, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Friends, and more.

I'm not sure if you don't recognize those.

I think TV series nowadays are very similar.

And you know how it goes.

You finish season one, and it's usually a cliffhanger, and then by the time season two comes around, months or maybe even years later, you've forgotten most of what happened in season one.

So there's usually a recap to get viewers up to speed.

And this even helps those who haven't seen season one before, as they can still get the gist of what's going on as they jump into season two.

And if they enjoy season two, they'll often want to go back to watch season one to get the fuller picture.

Now, as we open the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus' genealogy works much like that kind of recap.

It's an extended recap of season one, the Old Testament, before we begin season two, the New Testament.

There are 39 books in the Old Testament.

So a lot has happened in season one.

So before jumping into the birth of Jesus Christ, the first episode of season two, in this genealogy, as we go from Abraham to David to the deportation or exile to Babylon, all the way up to the time of Jesus, we are quickly being brought up to speed on the entire history of Israel.

Now, some of us may be less familiar with these names and events in the genealogy, and that's okay.

We can still understand the gist of what's going on.

And the more we read the New Testament, hopefully the more we'll be drawn to the Old Testament.

And the more we read the Old Testament, the more we'll long to see its fulfillment in the New Testament.

And as we'll see, Jesus is at the center of it all.

So turn your Bibles to Matthew chapter 1.

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

We'll be reading verses 1 to 17.

I would encourage you to keep your Bibles open to this passage and look down at the verses as they are referred to throughout the sermon.

It'll just help you to follow along much more easily.

So let's read Matthew chapter 1, verses 1 to 17.

Matthew 1:1–17

It says this.

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah, and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Rab the father of Amun Amimadab, and Amimedab the father of Nashon, and Nashon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David, the king.

And David was the father of Solomon, by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechaniah and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

And after the deportation to Babylon, Jeconiah was the father of Sheelteel, and Sheelteel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abu the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azur the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Akim, and Akim the father of Eliud, and Eliad the father of Eliazar, and Eliazar the father of Mathan, and Mathan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

So all the generations, from Abraham to David, were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations.

And from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ, fourteen generations.

This is God's word.

We'll look at this passage in three parts, and we'll answer the question: what does Jesus' genealogy show us?

We'll see three things.

First, God always keeps his word.

Second, God sovereignly came through sinners.

And third, God amazingly began a new creation.

So first, God always keeps his word.

Look at verse one.

Right away, Matthew tells us that Jesus is the Christ, the son of David, and the son of Abraham.

Each of those names is packed with Old Testament history and expectations.

So let's unpack each of them to better appreciate this season one recap.

Let's start with Abraham.

God called Abraham, formerly known as Abram, out of pagan idolatry, and God made a covenant with him.

In Genesis chapter 12, verses 1 to 3.

Genesis 12:1–3

It says this.

Now the Lord said to Abram, Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you, and I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

I'll bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse.

And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

And God begins to fulfill this very covenant with Abraham by making him the patriarch of the entire nation of Israel.

Look at verse 2 in the genealogy.

Abraham fathers Isaac, who then fathers Jacob, who's also known as Israel.

And then Jacob fathers Judah and his brothers, who become the twelve tribes of Israel.

So in that one verse, we see the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham to make him into a great nation.

But what I want us to focus on is that last part in Genesis chapter 12, verse 3.

Genesis 12:3

In you, Abraham, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

This promise gets repeated over and over again throughout the entire Old Testament.

This shows us that Abraham and the history of Israel has everything to do with us and with missions.

In God's redemptive plan, he chose to bless all the families of the earth, including us here in New Jersey in 2026, believers in Indonesia and people from all around the world to bless all of us through Abraham and his offspring.

So we should never think of Abraham and the history of Israel apart from all nations, because that was their God-given mission.

They were to be a blessing to all the families of the earth.

They were to be a light for the Gentiles or the non-Jews, a blessing to all nations.

And even in this genealogy, we get a glimpse of God keeping his word to Abraham in that way.

Look at verses 3 to 6.

Four times Matthew breaks from his pattern of saying someone was the father of someone to add the phrase, by this woman.

He intentionally includes four women, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and the wife of Uriah, and her name is Bathsheba.

And all four were regarded as Gentiles, non-Jews.

Tamar was a Canaanite, Genesis 38.

Rahab was a Canaanite, Joshua 2.

Ruth was a Moabite, Ruth 1.

And Bathsheba was married to Uriah the Hittite, 2 Samuel 11.

So she would have been regarded as a Hittite.

So Matthew goes out of his way to include these Gentile women as representatives of all nations who have experienced now the blessing of being included into the people of God.

So through Jesus' genealogy, we see that God has kept his word.

The nations, the families of the earth are being included.

And he will continue to keep his word in missions to bless all nations through the person and work of Jesus, the son of Abraham.

Next, let's look at David, who in verse 6 is called David the King.

God made another covenant with King David in 2 Samuel chapter 7, verses 12 to 13.

2 Samuel 7:12–13

He says this to David When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.

He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

What a covenant.

David had one of the longest dynasties in the history of the world, lasting for nearly half a millennium.

And you can trace it here.

Look at verses 6 to 11 in the genealogy.

Matthew traces the Davidic kings all the way to the time of the deportation or exile to Babylon.

And that's when the Davidic kings seemed to end.

And at that point, once they were captive exiles in Babylon, many Israelites began to wonder, has the Lord abandoned us?

What about his covenant with David to establish his kingdom forever through his offspring?

Will God still be faithful to all of his promises?

They're in exile.

That's why there are psalms like Psalm 89, which begin celebrating the Lord's steadfast love and faithfulness to King David and his covenant to establish his offspring forever and to build his throne for all generations.

Just look at the Psalm 89, the beginning.

It's so celebratory.

But then listen to the end of the very same psalm in Psalm 89, verses 49 and 51.

Psalms 89:49

Lord, where is your steadfast love of old, which by your faithfulness you swore to David?

Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked, and how I bear in my heart the insults of all the many nations with which your enemies mock, O Lord, with which they mock the footsteps of your anointed.

You can feel the tension in the psalmist.

He knows what God swore to David to do.

He made a covenant to him.

And yet they're in exile.

With no king, no land, no temple.

They feel as though God has not kept his word.

And that brings us to the next name: Christ.

Christ means Messiah or anointed one.

The term became specifically associated with the prophesied son of David, who would come to establish his righteous reign forever.

Isaiah chapter 9, verses 6 to 7.

Isaiah 9:6–7

This is a popular passage to be read during Christmas time.

But listen closely to what it says.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, of the increase of his government, and of peace there will be no end.

On the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

So the Israelites in exile are anticipating not only their return from exile, but the establishment of the Son of David, the Christ, who will usher in this glorious kingdom.

But when they finally do return, and they finally do rebuild the temple, some of the older Israelites who remember the first temple realize that this second temple pales in comparison to the first.

And they begin to weep.

They're happy that they're out of exile, but this still isn't it.

What about the Son of David?

What about the Christ?

What about the glorious kingdom he's supposed to bring about?

Where is he?

And so after the end of a long season one, the Old Testament closes on that cliffhanger.

Then after about four hundred years of silence, the very first page of the New Testament starts with the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

The son of David.

The son of Abraham.

If you're Jewish reader here, you can almost feel the excitement.

He's here.

He's finally here.

And as we keep on reading, and as they kept on reading, we see that Jesus fulfills every promise God ever made to Abraham, to David, to all of his people.

For all the promises of God find their yes in him.

He's here.

God kept his word.

You know, at the beginning of every new year, many of us perhaps make resolutions or promises that we intend to keep.

They're really promises to ourselves.

But according to one 23 poll, only 1% kept their resolutions for the full year.

That means that 99% of people could not keep their word even to themselves.

And I don't think we really even need a poll to confirm that.

I think we know ourselves well enough.

As well-intentioned as we might be, we don't always keep our word.

But praise God that he is not like us.

God is not a man that he should lie, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.

It is who he is.

He only speaks truth.

When the Lord speaks, his word will accomplish what he purposed.

It never comes back void.

It may take time, it may not look like what we expect it to look like.

It may come when all hope seems extinguished.

But God always keeps his word.

No matter what we're facing or feeling in this life, we know that season three is coming.

The saints have always found great comfort in this.

Romans chapter 8, verse 18.

Romans 8:18

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Season three is coming.

And we can trust that God will keep his word on that.

So in the midst of your sin, think of God's promise to one day make you completely without sin and perfectly righteous.

In the midst of sickness, think of God's promise to one day raise you with a glorified body, with no more sickness or pain.

In the midst of injustice, think of God's promise to one day right every wrong and vindicate you in the sight of all.

In the midst of despair.

Think of God's promise to one day wipe away every tear from your eyes, to fill you with an everlasting joy in his presence.

In the midst of the great missionary task still before us, think of God's promise to one day gather a great multitude from every nation, tribe, and language, crying out in one voice, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.

Season three is coming.

And just like all the saints that have gone before us, live every day in light of your eternal hope.

What is that hope?

Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

So first, God always keeps his word.

And second, God sovereignly came through sinners.

Look at verse 17.

Matthew arranges Jesus' genealogy as three sets of fourteen generations.

But the Jewish reader would have known that this isn't literally the case.

Matthew omitted several names to fit the pattern of 14 generations in each section.

And he doesn't hide that.

You read the Old Testament, it's very clear he's doing that.

It was common for Jewish writers to arrange genealogy symbolically to aid with memory and to make a theological point.

The Greek verb translated as was the father of does not always mean the direct father, but often means something like was the ancestor of.

The reason that's important is because Matthew selectively chose who to include in Jesus' genealogy and who to leave out.

So if you were gonna select from Jesus' family tree who to include in this genealogy, who would you pick?

What kind of person would you pick?

You know, earlier I mentioned the four Gentile women, the non-Jewish women, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba, as representatives of all nations being blessed through Jesus, the son of Abraham.

But their inclusion also calls to mind stories filled with sin.

Tamar pretended to be a prostitute and slept with her father-in-law Judah.

Genesis 38.

Rahab didn't need to pretend.

She was a prostitute.

Joshua 2.

Ruth is rather spotless in her narrative, but she was a Moabite, a people originated from Lot's daughters, getting him drunk and sleeping with him to have children.

Genesis 19.

Bathsheba is referred to as the wife of Uriah because she was taken into an adulterous relationship with King David, who then murdered her husband Uriah to try to cover it up.

2 Samuel 11.

And right there we see that even the great King David was marred by sin.

And if you keep reading his narrative, he also wasn't the greatest father.

I know that we're celebrating Father's Day today.

I don't think David's sons could all celebrate him as a great father.

His own son tried to kill him.

And then look down the lists of kings after David in verses 7 to 11.

Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines who turned his heart towards idolatry.

Rehoboam's foolish pride led him to split the kingdom of Israel.

And most of the kings that followed who were labeled wicked.

I mean, obviously they're very wicked.

But even the so-called good kings were often tainted with sin.

And yet, Jesus sovereignly came through this line of sinners.

You know, Jesus is God with us.

Matthew 1, verse 23.

Matthew 1:23

Which means that unlike any baby in history, he chose to be born.

And he chose to be part of this family tree.

You know, God could have arranged it differently.

God could have made it so that he came through a line of more blameless Joseph's and Daniels.

But he didn't do that.

He sovereignly chose to come through cowards, prostitutes, adulterers, murderers, and worse.

So if you come from a messed up family, perhaps you're having trouble even celebrating, remembering that today is Father's Day.

Just know that Jesus can relate more than you know.

When God became man, he chose to sympathize with us even by coming through such sinners.

And the family he came from shows the family he came for.

Jesus came through sinners for sinners.

That's good news for all of us.

Brad Buzer, a pioneer missionary to a tribal group in Papua New Guinea.

He tells of his early days among the Iteti people, this tribal group that he was trying to reach with the gospel.

His 16-month-old son developed a severe case of malaria.

So he had a spiking fever, he was vomiting, he had terrible diarrhea, his eyes were beginning to roll at the back of his head, into the back of his head.

Brad was walking down a trail, holding his son and praying for his life when he encountered eight Iteti men.

So these are eight of the men from the people group that he came to reach with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And they asked Brad what he was doing.

He showed them his sick son, worried for his life.

And the Iteti men started laughing.

And they said to him, He's dead already.

Go back to your house.

You can bury him here.

You'll have more kids.

Grow up.

That's who Brad and his family crossed every kind of barrier to reach with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Those men.

When we consider the work of missions, we don't go because the people there are so welcoming or even deserving.

But we go because Jesus came through sinners for sinners.

For the Iteti people, for the many unreached groups in Indonesia, and for you and me.

Sinners.

All of us.

All who would turn to him in repentance and faith.

He came for us.

Also, don't miss the fact that God would become man and even have a genealogy at all.

Every name in this genealogy should produce adoring gratitude that the God of all creation took on our very nature to be one with us in the most intimate way.

Jesus is both truly man and truly God.

He came through sinners yet remained sinless.

It had to be this way from what he came to do.

How would he do that?

Well, the gospel or the good news is that even though we've all sinned against our Creator and we rightfully deserve eternal punishments in hell, God came in the person of Jesus Christ to be our substitute, to stand in our place.

As truly man, he lived the perfect life that we were supposed to live.

And he died on that cross to take the punishment that we deserve for our sins.

And as truly God, he's the only one who could ever bear the full wrath of God against sin and yet walk out of that grave three days later.

There is no other mediator between God and man except Jesus Christ, the God man.

All who repent of their sins and believe in Him alone as Lord and Savior will be freely forgiven.

It costs us nothing, it costs him everything.

We're adopted as his children, and we are granted eternal life by no work of our own, completely finished by Christ alone.

Christ came through sinners for sinners, near and far alike.

If you haven't yet trusted in Christ for life and salvation, I urge you to respond to him today.

Talk to someone here after the service.

We would love to help you learn more about Jesus through his word.

To walk with you and following him.

There's no better life than to know our God and Savior Jesus Christ.

So first, God always keeps his word.

Second, God sovereignly came through sinners for sinners.

And third, God amazingly began a new creation.

Look at verse one.

In the original Greek, the phrase, the book of the genealogy, is just two words.

Biblas Genesetos.

And in the Greek Old Testament, that exact phrase, or one very similar, is repeated 11 times throughout the entire book of Genesis.

It gives structure to the entire book.

In fact, the base form of Genesetos is Genesis, or what we might call Genesis.

The book is named Genesis because of that.

And so when the Jewish readers open the first page of the New Testament, they would have recognized immediately that this is a new book of Genesis.

And just as Genesis begins with creation, the coming of Jesus marks a new beginning, a new creation.

And the rest of the New Testament confirms that.

2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17 says this.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Just as Adam was the head of the original creation and the original family, Jesus has come to be the head of a new creation and a new family.

Notice that Jesus' genealogy is the last genealogy in the Bible.

There's another genealogy in Luke, but that's still Jesus' genealogy.

You know, genealogies appear all over the Old Testament.

Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Joshua, Ruth, 1st and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1st and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, they are everywhere.

Genealogies.

But suddenly, when you open the pages of the New Testament, Jesus is the last genealogy in the rest of the Bible.

Once Jesus came, something radically changed.

To be part of the family of God is no longer based on physical procreation or physical descent.

But it has entirely to do with being spiritual, uh being spiritually regenerated, being born again.

It's not by natural birth, but by supernatural rebirth.

Matthew chapter 3, verse 9, John the Baptist, he says this to the Jewish hearers.

Matthew 3:9

And do not presume to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father.

For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

Galatians chapter 3, verse 7.

Galatians 3:7

Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.

We are engrafted into Jesus' family tree, not because of who our parents are, but through personal faith in Christ.

Your genealogy does not matter a bit.

What matters is, are you connected to Christ by faith?

Just as God formed the original family in Adam, he now forms a new family in Christ, the second Adam.

The New Testament is clear that we are either united to Adam in his sin and death, or we are united to Christ in his righteousness and resurrection.

Those are the two destinies based on who you're united to.

And the only way to be united to Christ is through faith in him, him alone.

That's why we do not baptize the infants of believing parents.

Baptism marks someone as a member of Christ's family.

And the only way to be part of his family is through faith in him.

We love the children who gather with us.

I see children here.

We love that.

I love that.

We love that in our church as well.

We teach, model, and pray that they would know Jesus.

We do all that we can to encourage faith in them.

But we would only confuse them if we baptize them before they give a credible profession of faith in Christ.

Physical genealogies stop with Jesus.

Because belonging to the family of God is now entirely a matter of being united to Christ through faith.

Now, with that said, other than the genealogy of Jesus, there is a kind of genealogy, so to speak, that remains with the book of life.

The book of life contains all those who are united to Christ through faith.

It shows all those branches connected to Him.

Revelation 20, verse 15.

Revelation 20:15

And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Kids, teens, even though there are many blessings that you have in being raised by godly believing parents, you are not automatically part of God's family.

The only way your name is written in the book of life is if you personally repent of your sins and believe in Jesus Christ alone as your Lord and Savior.

We long for you to know him personally as the only one who went to the cross for sinners like us.

Your parents didn't do that, the pastors didn't do that.

Christ alone did that.

We long for you to trust him.

And from a young age, delight in him, follow him, love him all your days.

There's no greater desire we could have for you.

There's no greater life you could live.

And for all of us who are in Christ, Jesus doesn't save us into a private, me and God relationship with him.

But he saves us into a very public relationship with him as a church, with new brothers and sisters in Christ.

That's what it means to be part of a family.

If anyone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar.

1 John 4, verse 20.

1 John 4:20

If we're united to Christ, then we love our brothers and sisters in Christ.

There's no other way.

No matter how diverse and different they may be from us, just as Jesus is not ashamed to be identified with us, we are not ashamed to be identified with all the branches in our new family tree.

We love them with the love of Christ.

The love that drove him to the cross for them.

We're not just in and out of service kind of Christians.

There's no such Christian in the Bible.

We love each other as family, no matter how much we're struggling, how different we are, how much we've even hurt one another, we pursue after each other the way that Christ loved us.

Brothers and sisters, practically, if there are other people here in this church that you don't know, and especially if you're a member of NBC, introduce yourself after the service.

Ask questions and introduce them to others.

Help them to know that if their faith is in Christ, then they belong to the same spiritual family.

You are not strangers.

If you consider yourself a Christian, but you are not a member of any gospel-proclaiming local church, then I fear that you gravely misunderstand what it means to be a Christian.

The Bible has no concept of a me and God alone kind of Christianity.

You only see Christians as rooted in their spiritual family in the local church.

Much of what God commands us to do in the New Testament can only be meaningfully lived out within a local church.

Don't cut yourself off from that means of grace.

And the the kind of community that Christ has given to you as a gift.

New brothers and sisters.

Now, one more thing to make clear here.

To be united to Christ through faith is not to remain the same person that you once were.

It's not to simply become a nicer version of yourself and become a regular church attender.

To put your faith in Christ, to be united to him, is to be entirely changed.

You become a new creation.

As we saw before, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has passed away.

Behold, the new has come.

Galatians 2.20.

I have been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

Ephesians 4, 22 to 24.

You were taught to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God, in true righteousness and holiness.

You are new.

You cannot stay the same.

And the wonderful thing is, that's who you are now.

That's what Christ has done in you.

And he's asking you to simply live out who he's made you to be.

So ask yourself, why do I love God and my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ?

Why do I stop living for myself and now live for Christ?

Why do I fight sin and hunger for righteousness instead?

If you are a Christian, it is most fundamentally because that's who you now are.

You cannot help it.

Christ made you to be a new creation with new loves, new aims, new desires.

And you just simply walk in that.

That doesn't mean it's not hard.

It doesn't mean that there aren't struggles and temptations and deceit.

But that's who we now are.

We walk in step with who He's made us to be in Christ.

If that doesn't seem to describe you very accurately, then I say this with great love for you and kindness.

If that doesn't describe you, you should really begin to question whether you are truly united to Christ at all.

And if you're really honestly evaluating and you find yourself to be there, that is God's kindness to you.

Better to realize that now.

A branch cannot bear fruit as long as it's connected to the life-giving vine of Christ.

Withering in your love for God and fellow Christians, increasing in self-centered living, indulging sinful desires and sinful habits, caring little for growing in righteousness.

These are all signs that you may not be truly converted.

And the most loving thing for you to recognize is, but I can still turn.

If you find that to be the case, that's God's kindness to you.

You can still run to Jesus in true repentance.

Ask him for the Holy Spirit to change you, to make you a new creation.

Ask him for deep conviction of your sins and to truly grieve them as utterly wicked, to get that out of your life.

Ask him to conform your loves, your aims, and your desires to his.

Ask him to hold fast to you so that you may persevere to the end.

Ask and it will be given to you.

Seek and you will find.

Knock and it will be open to you.

Turn to Jesus and He will save you.

Now, for the members of NBC, let me encourage you to look for the fruit of spiritual life in the church.

You know, the world may evaluate based on the attendance of the service, the elegance of the building, the professionalism of the music, the number of baptisms, or some other external metric.

I'm not saying any of those things are wrong.

I'm just saying we don't focus on those things.

The world focuses on those things.

That's not our focus.

What are we looking for?

How do we know we're growing as Christians and as a church?

We're looking for signs of genuine new creation living.

Members studying scripture together on their own initiative, confessing sin, confronting sin, sharing the gospel with unbelievers, pursuing those who are struggling, working through conflict and not just canceling each other or avoiding each other, loving those who are different, intentionally doing spiritual good to one another, looking for opportunities to stir one another up to love and good works.

These are the things that we look for.

You know, last night, me and my family, we stayed with Jen and Judy, and Yvonne came over as well, and we were talking not only about missions, but about life here at NBC.

So encouraged to hear of the kind of outreaches that are happening here, the kinds of ways that we're encouraging one another, meeting up with each other pretty regularly, wanting each other and helping each other through struggles to conform our lives to the likeness of Christ.

I love to hear, I'm so encouraged to hear that.

I know that it's so easy to be discouraged in a church.

They didn't share those any discouragement.

I'm not saying any of that.

I just know through the life of the church, it's so easy to focus on other things and get discouraged.

Look for signs of spiritual life.

Make it a habit to give praise to God for these signs of life that you see in one another.

Make it your habit to go to that brother or sister that you see who's doing these things, that's showing, evidencing new life, and encourage them with that.

God is evident in every single church.

And we have to be able to see that and encourage each other with it.

There's so many things to be discouraged by.

Encourage one another by ways that God is working in each other's lives.

That's one of the greatest ministries you could have to one another.

Helping each other along until the very end.

You know, when we consider the work of missions, people who evidence this kind of spiritual fruit consistently, vibrantly, these are the kinds of people that we want to send.

We're not looking for those who simply want to go.

We're not just looking for warm bodies overseas.

We send faithful church members who have a track record of bearing spiritual fruit and stirring it up in others.

If you're not a faithful member of a local church and you aspire for missions, pull that emergency break.

Ground zero of being a missionary is knowing the gospel really, really well to be able to articulate it in a context not your own, to be a faithful member of a local church, because that's much of what you're gonna be doing when you cross the seas.

Missions is not something different from everyday church life.

But it's church planting across significant barriers.

It's sending qualified workers across linguistic, geographic, and cultural barriers to start and strengthen churches, especially in places where Christ has not been named yet.

Come to Jakarta, Indonesia.

Look at missions in the life of our church.

It's just church across barriers.

That's missions.

Brothers and sisters, missions begins right here as you're a faithful member of your local church.

And as you consider all the places in the world that don't yet have the gospel witness of a church among them.

We long for the gospel witnesses there, not just evangelism.

Long-term health, long-term witness of the church that outlives all of us.

You guys just celebrated 175 years.

Praise the Lord.

How did that happen?

Because this church did not lose the gospel.

Members in the generations that came before you faithfully were gospel witnesses, so they kept the gospel for you to receive it and for there to be a vibrant gospel witness here in New Jersey by the time you got here.

We want the very same thing overseas everywhere.

We may not think that we're doing anything out of the ordinary as we're just faithful church members, because this is just what we do as Christians.

But to the watching world, these wonderful evidences of spiritual life in a community of people who love one another across barriers, across difficulties, who share the gospel freely, who pursue one another in love, these kinds of signs of new creation life cannot be explained by natural temperaments.

It's not your personality, it's not normal outside the church.

It bears witness to something else entirely.

A new creation, a new spiritual family in Christ.

As we close, if we are united to Christ through faith, then this genealogy is not just something to skip over, but it has everything to do with us and with missions.

Because our history, our present and our future, and that of every believer among the nations are intimately connected to Christ.

He's come and he's coming back.

The genealogy of Jesus gives us great comfort in knowing that God always keeps his word, that God sovereignly came through sinners and for sinners, and that God amazingly began a new creation in Christ.

Because the long-expected Jesus has come, everything we now are, everything we have, everything we do is not because of ourselves, but because of who Christ is, what he's done, and what he continues to do in all of us.

May that be increasingly evident in our lives as we press on through season two of redemptive history and as we eagerly anticipate season three.

Let's pray.

And I'll invite the music team up at this time as well.

Heavenly Father, we are in awe of how you are not like us.

You always keep your word.

Even when all hope seems to be extinguished, even when these promises, these covenants you enter into seem so unimaginable.

Somehow, somehow, in the person of Jesus Christ, you always keep your word.

And Lord, because you have kept your word, and we see that in the genealogy, we know that season three is coming with all certainty that we can bank our whole lives on that.

Lord, help us to live each day in light of that day.

Lord, thank you that you sovereignly came through sinners for sinners like us.

May we never cease to be in awe of the undeserved grace that we have received and the length, the depths that you went through to give that to us.

Lord, help us to be amazed that you did not leave us as we were, but you made us new creations in Christ.

A new identity, a new aim, new desires, new loves.

You made us distinct from the rest of the world, that we might be a vibrant gospel witness as churches around the world.

Lord, help us to be faithful to live that out.

Even though it might not seem so abnormal to us in the life of the church, help us to be faithful in living that out.

Help us be encouraging in the way that we point that out to each other as well.

And we pray that all the nations, all the families of the earth would take notice in the same way that angels look down and see and are amazed at your manifold wisdom, that they would take notice and that many more among the nations would come to worship you and to join in in that great chorus that's in that final day that salvation belongs to the Lord.

We love you.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.