A New Beginning | Matthew 1

Good morning.

Usually

when it comes to Christmas time, I have

to take a break from my my myential

preaching to books. So I usually do take

a break because I I love Christmas and I

love to talk about Christmas and the

incarnation of our Lord. I think there's

no need for a break because the next two

weeks we're in Matthew chapter one and

we're going to be talking about the

birth of Christ. And I I believe that

pretty much if I was preaching the

sermon in July, it would probably be the

same because I'm trying to get into the

point of the passage of the point of the

passage and I want the point of the

sermon to reflect the point of the

passage. We're going to be reading in

Matthew chapter one. We're going through

the genealogy one more time. I think

it's the third time we in the genealogy

where there's this this arrangement of

14 generations. Matthew will point out

that there's 14 generations from Abraham

to David and 14 generations from David

to the land of Babylon and 14.

Why did he do that? And moreover, why

why did he actually manipulate the a

little bit to fix that? because he

actually read a couple people out of the

out of the genealogy in order to

accomplish this and and everybody agrees

commentary he's making a literary point

there's significance in the number 14

what that significance is hardly any

commentators I can find to say I found a

couple explanations which I think are

are reasonable I came to my own

conclusion before I looked at other

people's conclusions And uh I'm going to

give you my honorary mention of another

conclusion of why 14 is mentioned. But I

will sum it up regardless of the meaning

of 14 generations. There is definitely a

point that the birth of Christ

represents a new beginning.

It's time for a major change. There is a

there's been a pattern when after 14

generations after there's a build up and

the promises made to Abraham that that

reaches a pinnacle in the coming of

David and then new promises made to

David above what was made to Abraham

that from him would come the one who

will reign over all the nations in an

everlasting king and then after David

there's a decline there's disappointment

for generations. We read one king after

another who fails to be the promised

king who would reign forever. So it's

disappointment, disappointment, covenant

breaking, oath breaking, sin, murder,

bloodshed. It's a big mess for 14

generations. And then there's a massive

consequence because they broke the

covenant. God says, "I'm going to allow

you to be taken by the Babylonians."

And the throne of David

14.

And so there's this pattern of 14.

Something really big happens. It's

Matthew is saying we're right on

schedule. Something big happens.

The son of David has come. The prophecy

of Abraham has come. It represents a new

beginning. Now the title is a new

beginning.

The birth of Christ is a new beginning

to relinquish our death, set us free and

give us rest. But also as we look at the

new beginning, when Christ comes into

our lives,

it's a new beginning for us.

Christ came to set us free. Christ came

to give up. Christ came to relinquish

our

shall see Christ to save us from our s

word

as we've seen previous

of Jesus Christ the son of David the son

of Abraham

Abraham was the father of Isaac and

Isaac the father of Jacob Jacob the

father of

Judah, the father of Zer of Perez, the

father of

the father of the father of Andadab, the

father of M.

the father of Salmon,

the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz

the father of Ruth. And God the father

of the father of David.

And David was the father of Solomon by

the wife of Uriah. And Solomon the

father of

the father of Elijah. From Abraham to

David for 14.

And from David to Babylon 14. And from

the deportation to Babylon to Christ 14.

So all the generations

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place

in this way. When his mother Mary had

been with Pharaoh and Joseph before they

came together, he was found to be the

child of the Holy Spirit. Oh Lord God,

we thank you that you orchestrate

history to tell your story. It is

your story. We thank you Lord that

history

our Lord and Savior. We thank you Lord

that God the Son took on human flesh.

You split history in half a new

beginning

and the year of our Lord. We serve you.

You're our King. You're our Savior.

You're our deliverer. You came to set us

free from our s. You came to give us

hope in an unexpected end. And we praise

you Lord for the goodness and the

graciousness that you sh.

So our last verse here, I'll start with

the last verse of our text and I'll go a

little beyond it in my sermon. Um here

we we we we observed in last week the

very first verse that's the very first

sermon I did in Matthew introduction to

Matthew was just basically the first

verse of Matthew and the last verses of

Matthew 28.

The first verse it speaks of uh the The

book of the generation, the book of the

genealogy, the book of the genesis of

Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son

of Abraham. The word genealogy in Greek

is Genesis. It's it's it's a repeating

phrase in the book of Genesis. Every

genealogy has this word in Greekis in

the Greek translation. And so the very

first verse points out that we have the

book of the genesis of Jesus Christ.

Genesis origins or beginning or when it

speaks of your family line your family

is true. It's your origin. Well, now

here we are in verse 18 where our text

and it says again now the birth of Jesus

Christ took place in this place. What is

the Greek word for birth you might ask?

It's the same word.

So here again we have the phrase now the

genesis of Jesus Christ

the origin the beginning of Jesus took

place in this way. And so the word

Genesis to the Greek reader reading this

to the Hebrew reader who spoke the

written read this and they think to the

book of Genesis. What promises were made

to Adam and Eve the seed of the woman.

What do we see in Matthew? We see the

virgin

that will

see the son of Abraham the promised of

God, the seed of Abraham and whom all

the nations of the earth will be blessed

for the great commission to go to all

the nations teach them this blessing of

the gospel and we see Jesus who is the

son of David the king who rule the

nations of the book of Matthew the king

has come

here and his kingdom is growing in the

hearts and minds of filling the earth as

we make disciples of all men so now we

have this

of Jesus Christ.

Also notice how he conceived. Well,

we're told that Joseph is not the

father. He was the father.

The holy spirit we read in covered over

Mary and she conceived of the Holy

Ghost. Jesus

legal father was Joseph which means

Joseph being a king

of the throne of David. But The actual

father is the Holy Spirit. The Holy

Spirit conceives and Mary

Jesus. Jesus is God the son taking on

human flesh. And so Adam became a living

soul when God formed Adam

from the earth.

God made

Adam from the earth

of the earth. Adam from the earth. And

how did he become a living soul? in him.

Holy Spirit breathed in him the breath

of life and he became a living soul. Now

we see Jesus

Adam the new era the new creation the

Holy Spirit

as the Holy Spirit hovers over the

waters in Genesis 13. The Holy Spirit

hovered over Mary conceived in her born

of the Holy Spirit. God the son becomes

also the son of man become son of God of

man

name that probably next week but I want

to put that

represents a new beginning new beginning

for all of us and we shall see the 14

points to that. So now let's look at our

text again.

We just learned about Matthew

Christ the Messiah. Remember Christ is a

title not a man named

Christ

the anointed one he is the promised king

the promised prophet he's the promised

priest the son of David

is very important I'm not going to read

the whole go through it verse by verse

we've done we've done that pretty much

but assum

As I point out last week, we want to

look at the breaks from the pattern. The

pattern is Abraham

is the father of Isaac. Isaac was the

father of Jacob. So was the father of so

and so. And then once in a while, we

last week, there'll be a break and we'll

add a little detail.

that so and so was born of Rahab and so

and so was born of Ruth and so and so

was born of the wife of Matthew

that the leader would take note of and

say why did he break the well there's

another

verse

the father of David the king now there's

a lot of butific

the son of David the king and Josiah the

father of his brothers at the time

of Babylon. Those are your your three

sections from Adrien to David and then

from David to the turning away.

And when we see this build up one one

author

I was trying to look up you know I came

to my own conclusions and then I thought

I want to find out if anybody else comes

to me because I'm saying that you know I

don't hear everywhere. I I found

differences of opinions and I found one

that had the same opinion as me and I

thought well that's that's the one in my

prayer my searching that that I feel God

will give me that one but you know

you're free to disagree with it but but

this author noted that that um that it's

almost the family line is almost like

from Abraham to David it's going uphill

you start small with Abraham little

humble beginnings with Abraham and

there's this

David

Abraham sits on a throne.

And then there's another great and then

it goes downhill. It goes downhill. It

goes downhill. You got one rotten king

after another. A few good ones sprinkled

in there, but mostly bunch of rotten

kings. And God finally says

violated the covenant so much. I'm going

to judge Israel. He takes them captivity

into the land of

the time of of Jesus.

The sons of David don't have a throne.

The throne is the promise has led to

disappointment. God said, "I will make

one of your sons to sit on a throne

forever." And now there's not even a son

on the throne.

So, so there's this uphill to David

down. And then again,

promises until Christ comes that he will

make prophets. God said that I will make

that he was going to give an everlasting

kingdom to the son of David and the son

of John. All right. Now we get to our

new our new verse here verse 17.

17 all the generations from Abraham to

David 14.

So his name is counted twice in order to

kind of make this work and a couple

people are left out to make this work

and another

the author Matthew's

14

and a lot of people don't really comment

on it but Matthew wants his audience to

understand there's some significance in

14

and Hebrew the letters are numbers kind

of like if we were down a

A = 1 B = 2 = 3 = 4

it's pretty much that's the way they did

numbers originally. They didn't write

numbers as a separate symbol but the

letters

in Hebrew and English

they both equal four. So in in Hebrew

the numbers have

a numerical significance because they

use number two. All right. The number

depending on pronunciation

is spelled no. And if you wanted to

calculate

green and

he has a value of four has a value of

six and again has a value of four. So

you add up four six and four and you end

up with 14.

And so uh some people believe just like

you calculate the number of the beast in

revelation the number of 666

if you calculated the number of David's

name it adds up to 14 and David's name

is mentioned multiple times emp

that is one theory and maybe correct

maybe correct that's very significant

that the original read that

but I I my first thought was had nothing

to do with the value of that son of

David but rather if we divide it up

let's look at it again 17

to 14 generations that's one set of 14

and from David Babylon is 14 generations

that's a second

and From the deportation to Babylon to

the Christ is 14.

You have three

and 14 is made up of two

and I I think it's beyond anybody who

reads in the Bible.

The number seven very clearly has

significance meaning I'm going to show

you that. So we have we have uh

67

and so there's this pattern of sevenus

you have you have

seven

days

what happens on the seven

God creates

day and the sixth day is the day he

created man on the seventh he and I want

and so the number the principle I

believe is most

and I think what it's really teaching is

that now that Christ has come the

relationship of come

it's a new start I'm going to show you

the foundation of where I get First of

all, let's look at one of the first

mentioned here in Genesis 2. We see that

in the number of the heavens and the

earth will finish

that the heavens and the earth were

finished and all the host of them and on

the seventh day

that he had done

the seventh day. All his work that he

had done. So God blessed the seventh day

and made it holy because on it God

rested from all his work that he had

done in creation. These are the

generations that

the word

of the heavens and the earth and they

were created in the day that the Lord

God had made the earth and the same word

here

but here

we have

six

of generations.

We have we have 14 generations

147.

What would follow the rest

of the first

and as a result

of we all inherit the sin of Adam and we

sire

and under the law Israel tried to keep

the covenant. We see that God makes the

covenant with Abraham and God This is

how you shall keep the covenant became

Israel keep the covenant no like Adam

they break the covenant they fall into

infidelity they fall into idolatry they

fall into adultery they start committing

human sacrifice

human sacrifice and so the old covenant

shows the failure of biological Israel

to keep the covenant

But what we'll see here in the book of

Matthew is the new Israel. He is the

promise of Abraham. And whereas Adam,

Christa

Israel failed, Christ prevailed. He'll

make a very clear point of this in

that Jesus is being compared to

Egypt.

But Jesus keeps the covenant.

We've all broken the covenant. We all s

if you're laboring under the law trying

to earn God's favor, then every morning

you wake up feeling guilty because you

broken that covenant of works that God

made out. God tells Adam and

you continue

from the family of

inheritance is restored.

When we rest in Christ, when we trust in

him,

our deaths are relished. Our sins are

forgiven. It's a new beginning. It's a

new start. It's a fresh start.

See, the Sabbath day was given as a

reminder that God was there.

God had come to redeem him, make his

people. I want to look at the fourth

commandment.

different

days to keep it holy as Yahweh your God.

Six days you shall labor and do all your

work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath

to Yahweh your God. On it you shall not

do any work. You or your son or your

daughter or your male servant or your

female servant or your offer your donkey

or any of your

or the owner who is within your male

servant and your female servants may

rest as well as you.

You shall remember that you were a slave

in the land of Egypt. And Yahweh your

God brought you out from there with a

mighty hand out. Therefore Yahweh your

God commanded you to keep or guard the

Sabbath day. And people look at the

Sabbath like ohad.

Church was made up of a lot of slaves.

If you were a Roman slave and you went

to your master and you said, "Hey, you

know, I've decided I'm going to keep the

fourth commandment. I'm not going to

work." What would happen? You

might get

the

church

full of Romans that they have to keep

the Sabbath

all wrong, folks. The Sabbath was the

great privilege of injury. It was

incredible privilege. It was God saying,

"I want you to work six days, but on the

seventh day, I want you to see forth."

The word

is associated with the word in Hebrew.

Hebrew, you see there's a lot of

connections. the word

I'll say I'll change

the word

and

the word

they're all they're all like the same

word in the word to be when you've eaten

you're full you're you're full it's a

number of perfection it's a number of

completion it's a it's a number of

fulfillment and it's also it's also the

word to keep and tied into the word this

word. So the number seven

and the word complete and the word oath

a vow you make you make your covenant

complete with a with an oath with a same

word as seven.

We talked about it when we talked about

the well of the earth

where Abraham made her. So this word

Sabbath is a really big word but it was

a privilege. It was God saying you know

the rest of the world live in fear and

starvation but that's not the way it's

going to be for my people. I'm going to

bless you in Jesus. It's going to take

pain because your fear will make you

say, "Oh, I have to I have to go to the

law on Sunday because otherwise I won't

have time to go do whatever I want to do

on Saturday and I won't be ready for the

weekend. I have to work on tomorrow's

work for Monday and I have to do this. I

have to do that." And fear hold

people are stressed. Even in America

today, people are stressed and they

think it's privilege to set aside the

Sabbath. The Sabbath was originally

given to John's people saying, "I will

provide for you and I will bless you. I

will meet your economic needs and it's

going to be a break for you, for your

cattle, for your children, and even your

servants, your slaves, your daughters.

Everything's going to shut down and

you're going to run and I'm going to

provide for you. And when you do it,

you're going to remember something.

You're going to remember that you were

slain in the land of Egypt. You were

slain. You have the option to take off

one day.

But now God has brought you out. He's

redeemed you. And that's why I want you

to keep God people to be able to rest.

Now that faith be God's God's going to

make God's gonna more abundantly bless

your harvest than if you

God's going to bless your finances.

God's going to bless you. And what would

it do to the people of Israel? one day

for even the farmer to sit back and read

the word of God, go to synagogue,

rebuild their faith. It's a privilege.

It's necessary to have a sensation from

the daytoday

to focus on higher things, the things of

God to spend time with your family.

It was a blessing to them and and

honestly, yes, you have to

level obligation. Well, no. But I want

to tell you, rediscover

it. Rediscover for your own make the

Lord's day, which I would make the case

that the first day of the week is the

new the new day of rest. Christ from the

grave on the first day of the week and

he brings in the new creation, the new

Genesis on the first day of the week.

rest on the seventh day. But but what is

trusting in Christ but resting in his

work for the

Christ obeyed the law? Christ was born

under the law. When we place our faith

in him, we're saying I'm going to rest

and

we enter into his

paid

work. I'm going to him. Now, I still

want to obey him and I want to live for

him and I want to be an obedient son,

but I'm not trying earned my salvation.

Christ already earned my salvation. I

rest in his work. He finished it on the

cross. It is finished. When I trust in

Christ, I am Christ to fulfill the law.

So the Sabbath

also

not only

there was a Sabbath of years

a

Deuteronomy

15. lay the foundation to explain the 14

verse one at the end of every seven

years. to make it clear it's after six

years

at the end of every seven years you

shall grant a relief and this is a man

of release every predator shall release

what he has to his neighbor he shall not

exact of his neighbor his brother

because the Lord's relief has been

proclaimed of a foreigner you may exact

it but whatever of yours is with your

brother your hand shall release okay so

in Israel you could have a debt you

could you could loan your brother that

for up to six years if you did it in the

first year. If you did it in the fifth

year, you only have two years to go

because the whole nation understood

every seventh year is a year of release.

They didn't have

30

years

and Israel every seventh year is the

year of

So if you were going to loan somebody,

you loan them sufficient amount of money

to get to get the food that they needed

to

dig the wells for and the money would

not exceed what you would expect to get

back by the end of the seven years

because you knew that in the seventh

year was the year of freedom. The debts

were forgiven.

And then every 49 years, anybody who

would sold their land, they could sell

it for up to 49 years, they would blow

the trumpet and everybody to go home. I

think that's a picture again.

sold

the

he was kicked out of the garden

and now in Christ we get to go back

we get to Christ has declared our

release and we get to return but there

is a period of every seventh year of

release all right he goes on but there

will be no among you for Yahweh will

bless you in the land that Yahweh your

God is giving you inheritance.

If only you will obey the voice of

Yahweh your God, be careful and do all

this commandment that I command you

today. For Yahweh your God will bless

you as he promised you and you shall

many nations but you shall not borrow

and you shall rule over many nations but

they shall not rule over you. Say you

know you say wellism

I would say capitalism

with what the teaches but there's an

element here for Israel that wasn't what

we call and it was built into the

society of Israel with a year of relief

and it wasn't it wasn't governed by the

state really

but but this idea that you don't have

this ongoing debt bigger and bigger and

bigger until all of a sudden

everybody's left without You have boom

and bust economies for many generations.

That's what making a currency out of

thin airs to Israel based gold and

silver based currency was always backed

by real something real that was

divisible and transportable and

nonritable

value. It was a honest currency by by

weight. But there's this idea that you

know after so many years you

release everybody start

because in the year of release everybody

every

everybody gets their family.

It was a new beginning. It was a new

start. It was a year of joy. It was a

year of my debt is gone. I'm released.

and God says multiple times in the text,

I will bless you if you will do this.

One thing that is scary about

our capitalist economy is you do have a

situation where you you end up with

people who have lots of creditors, lots

of people on credit cards and and you

have people billions of dollars.

The population has more wealth than

everybody else combined, you know. Um,

and that wouldn't have been the way it

was in. And yet the government wasn't

taking some people and redistributing

it, but but it was designed to keep them

out of slavery and bondage. So if you're

going to make a loan, you made it short

and they want they want a debt today.

Everybody wants to enjoy they want to

enjoy in the present atense of their

future. God didn't want people to do

God.

And so you have this program where you

release and they would be presented. God

says I will do and and what does he say?

If you will uh you will many nations

that you will not borrow and you shall

rule over many nations but they shall

not rule over you if you obey.

He's basically saying you'll be free and

you'll be wealthy and you'll be blessed

and you'll be happy and your trust will

be in God. You're not living me for

material things. You're living for the

Lord and you're trusting the Lord and

he's blessing you. God wanted people to

be a free people. And so he built into

the society a year of a year after seven

years a year of

one of your brothers and become poor.

Now notice he said a minute ago

there will be no poor among you. And now

he says if among you one of your

brothers can become poor and how do you

recon

what he's saying is you're not going to

have perpetual poverty

you're going to have mother daughter

daughter sonovery

poverty will happen temporarily

somebody's building burns down and all

their food was in

and they go to their brother and say,

"Brother, I need some money. I need some

food so I can rebuild like I'll loan it

to you." And then again, this idea of

multigenerational poverty where people

only generations of being on a

somewhere, but that wasn't God's intent.

God's intent was people would freely

give up. They would help each other out.

And so you would have

which is an opportunity for the body of

Christ to gather around that person and

say, "We're going to be there for you,

brother." It's a blessing actually

when when somebody needs help and we

have a work day around here. Somebody

moved into their house or somebody has a

day moving and we show up together and

we help each other like the

barn. The community is made stronger by

that act of charity and service. It's so

easy. It's not your own to somebody

else. If you work a government agency

and you're just writing checks and hand

to people, it's not your money. It

doesn't mean anything. But when brothers

and sisters see a need in the body, they

come together and they help each other

out. It glorifies God. It builds up the

body. It builds up your God, I'll bless

you for it. That was God's plan. So

there there's always going to be people

that break a leg and come around and

give them a hand up.

There's always going to be times where

it actually is a good thing. It gives us

an opportunity to demonstrate love and

God didn't want

multigenerational poverty. You know, up

until up until around the founding of

America, there was

Europe and Africa and Asia, everywhere,

you had you had people that many many

generations fathers slaves

just

after another call, call them a slave.

Under communism, the people were in one

sense. They didn't have the freedom to

get up and they wanted to

the government was totally lording over

them like the savior.

God didn't want his people that kind of

multigenerational

slavery, multigenerational poverty. God

saying to Israel, you're going to be a

free people. And part of what's going to

accomplish that is the year of the

seventh year will be a year of verse

seven among you one of your brothers to

become poor in any of your towns within

your land that the Lord your God is

giving you

your heart or set your hand against your

poor brother but you shall open your

hand to him and sufficient for his need

whatever it may be take care that there

be an unworthy thought in your heart and

you say the seventh year the release is

near and I look

your poor brother and you give him

nothing and he lied to the Lord against

you and you'd be guilty of sin. What you

say?

And you're like, man, I don't even got

six months to pay him back. I don't

think I'll get my money back. That's

that's an easy way to look at. He says,

"Even though you're released

had some major medical bills as if he if

he could borrow from the church

$7,000 or so

done by faith just take it

years

back

and it was causing conflict people were

all upset about it people about it and

got together and said, "You know what?"

And up to that point, I was a pastor.

I've been a pastor.

And we're failing it for seven years.

The amount of money that came into the

church was the same amount of money

Not

year after year we had a savings account

down down

and every month

on Monday night and next Sunday The bers

and the bers brought two other families

and our financial

everything all the financial changing

and pour outless

soful.

That was a blesscc

and it was just such an obvious answer

to prayers but obedience

didn't make sense to natur

It's beautiful. All right. Verse 10. He

says, "You shall give to him freely and

your heart shall not do it when you give

to him because this the Lord your God

will bless you in all your works and all

you underake. For they will never cease

to be poor. Therefore, I command

your brother."

God God commanded charity and and uh God

you always have opportunity but God but

charity.

Socialism will never God's blessing

like like

notice there's nowhere to say the

statement

this commandment was to be governed by

the heart of God's people

were to show and show love and they

didn't say I'm going to bring

consequences on you but if you obey I'll

bring blessings upon you all from God

with a generous liberal heart God wants

people

liberal people

about it because

a fearful disposition by faith that God

if your brother a Hebrew man or a Hebrew

woman is saved to you shall serve you

six

you buy a brother out of slavery, he

shall serve you for six years. And in

the seventh year, you shall let him go

free.

When you let him go from you, you shall

not let him go empty-handedly. You shall

punish him literally out of your flock,

out of your wine. As the Lord your God

has blessed you, you shall give him you

shall remember that you were a slave in

the land of Egypt and the Lord your God

you command this day. There's a lot of

talk about child slavery in the Bible

and all that, but when you look at what

slavery was for a Hebrew, if you were a

Hebrew Hebrew, you can look at it as an

education. Let's say you didn't have a

place to live.

You learn the seventh year from your

slavery and you're sent out with

this is a replacement to college.

This is all kinds of social functions

that we have. But God says you're in the

sun and you're to send them out with the

blessing.

as I want to get to Matthew. I think

that's important because Jesus came

after a Sabbath of generation after six

days

six

to bring in the final rest.

And he doesn't just

he doesn't just forgive us and give us

hell anymore. We're made sons and

daughters of the king.

Now you that's the point of the passage

that come up in Matthew somewhere else.

Um I mentioned this some weeks ago. I'm

read it again when I was when I was

Joseph forgiving his brother I read from

this text in Matthew 18 came up and said

to him Lord how often will my brother

against me and I forgive him as many as

seven times and Jesus said to him I do

not say to you seven times but

77

to him and Lord how shall my brother

against me and I forgive

not

I think this is very

when they went into the land for 490

years they didn't

do it for 490 years they didn't practice

Deuteronomy like David they weren't

practicing Deuteronomy 15 They didn't

have a year anymore

old

anymore. And so God said in Jeremiah's

day, he said, "Okay, then the land's

going to have 70 years

because you have not kept the

ground and you didn't

say I'm going to take you into

to the carrying away. But God

demonstrated his patience for 490 years

while they set aside this principle of

the year of release. You owe me seven

years.

You never you never

let the rest have

and so when Peter says

to my brother Seven

minutes.

so patient with

you know that's encouragement to me when

I sit

as I go to the Lord you know this way

again

whatever whatever it is and

it's God doesn't

go against

we go to the Lord and we say I do it

again. God, I failed again.

But it's this pattern of seven concept

of rest is built into

Christ.

A new a new beginning has begun in

Christ. And so we read 14 generations

from Abraham to David 14.

Jesus came to your sins. set free. He

came to give me the blessing. He came to

give you a gift. He doesn't respond to

Israel something he wasn't willing to

give. Jesus has come to be our Sabbath

left.

So let's go back to Matthew.

Here's where we pick up now and we'll

pick up more next week. Now the birth

that is now the

of the new beginning. The beginning of

Jesus Christ took place in this way.

When his mother Mary had been betrayed

to Joseph, before they came together,

she was bound to be a child from the

Holy Spirit.

And her husband Joseph being a just man

and willing to put her resolved to

divorce her quietly.

As you consider these things, behold, an

angel of the Lord appeared to him in his

dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do

not fear to take Mary as your wife, for

that which is conceived in her is from

the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son,

and he shall call his name Jesus, for he

will save his people from their

Jesus

salvation. Jehovah save your salvation

salvation continue to save us from our

continue to restore us to our

inheritance

continue to make us sons and daughters.

Those that place their faith in Jesus

are resting in Jesus and his finished

work. Jesus kept the law. He did not

keep the law. He earned what we paid the

debt that he did not owe. We owed debt

we could not pay. Jesus came and paid

the debt so that we could be redeemed.

So that we could rest in him. So that we

could be set free. And he does it with a

blessing. He came to bless us.

Not only are we set free in this new

beginning, but a debt is forgiven and we

become sons and daughters. I wonder as I

come to these conclusions if it's

possible that the Apostle Paul maybe had

this passage in mind perhaps he doesn't

quote it so maybe that' be a stretch but

in Matthew one we have this this

beautiful ending where where we are

right now where where Mary has given

birth to the savior of the world

remember I pointed out that was given

the promise that the woman

Mary the book of promise was made. Now

in the New Genesis, Mary

of the Holy Spirit

and Yeshua,

salvation is born

of

the forgiveness of si

forgive us our sins. Okay, now this is

my final passage here. Galatians 4,

Paul says, I mean the there as long as

he was a child was no different from the

slaves. Though he is the owner of

everything, but he was under guardians

and managers until the day set by his

father. Now he's given the illustration

of a child that he's being raised in a

very rich household and he has guardian.

He really doesn't look any different

than a slave, right? He has to obey the

school after just like the school. But

in fact, he's actually the long child,

he lives just like a slave. Israel lives

like a slave.

They say that he is under

the date set by his father. In other

words, when he becomes the heir of the

family estate or when he becomes an

owner operator.

In the same way also we also when we

were children were enslaved to the

elementary principles of the world. But

when the fullness of time had come

forth his son born of a woman

born under the law under the old

covenant to redeem those who were under

the law so that we might receive

adoption as sons. And because you are

sons, God has sent the spirit of his son

into our hearts from aba father. So we

are no longer a slave but a son and it's

a son to an

over

the law.

We're trying to earn God's approval and

we tell ourselves I think maybe I'm good

enough to go to heaven. Maybe not. We're

like slaves. We're like slaves to the

law. But when the day when the child

born into the household like a slave

until the day that when he like no son

you're not you're not under a tutor

anymore. Now you are you are an air of

state. In the same way when we come to

faith in Christ and we rest in his

finished work on the cross and we trust

in what he did for us. We're no longer

slaves. We are sons and daughters.

And so this new beginning that we have,

you're s you're a fornicator. You got an

endure problem. You got a lust problem.

You're disrespectful. You're

self-filling. You're selfish. You're

arrogant. All these things can be said

about you and they're true. But when you

come to faith in Christ, what Christ did

for you is accur.

It's a new beginning.

It's a new start.

This teaching goes back well actually

goes back further than that but very

popular among the westification

perfectionism

becomes

early

and I've known Christians and I was to

believe it

somebody

from

the second best thing about heaven. Best

thing about

anymore, God, I'm sorry. I don't repent

to my brothers and sisters and my wife

anymore. I'm tired of repenting, right?

I long for the day I'll be in heaven. I

s ever again. Oh, glorious day.

But anyway, I read this. I have this

experience and I don't anymore

good to those

that good gift.

I got down on my knees. I was ready to

pray. God, I don't want I don't care

what you do with me. I don't want to

ever sin anyone ever wonderful. I want

to get that to be instantly delivered. I

got down on my knees and scripture

started

deliverify

the flesh to walk in the spirit daily.

There's no automatic getting back.

As long as you're in this body until you

see him face to face, we're going to

wrestle with sin. And one of the great

things that these perfectionists wrestle

with is is they're very very critical

and unless you're very selfrighteous

because if you think that you're living,

I guarantee you you're not. You see,

okay, maybe maybe you're not anymore.

You're not living anymore. Good for you.

That's great. Those are good. not do but

but I tell you pride

God is the proud heart

reality is of heaven

we're going to wrestle with and our

heart should smus

Jesus osus

all we are without sin

and he died on the cross and he said the

which means not just but paid in full

what he's saying is their paid

him we're saying I'm going to trust in

what he did I am not going to trust in

what I did and the doctrine of

perfection

is because you trusting in you

and you will live in bondage in slavery

if you live that way or you will live

selfrighteous and puffed up like the

temple and Lord I thank you I am all

I

have three days a week and then the poor

public

merciful to me And Jesus says the tax

collector who went homeified in the city

went home damn and the public went home

justified because he looked at Christ as

the fulfillment of his

trust in Christ

in Christ. Trust in him in what he has

done. He's coming to give you a new

beginning.

Continue to fight. Continue to

s continue to walk in the spirit. But

don't do it to earn a merit badge to

the works of the law. The law is a

beautiful thing and it does bring

freedom in many ways, but not as it

pertains to being right with God. That's

bondage. I love the law of God. I love

to study the law of God. I love how it

applies to every

such wisdom of the law. I love the law.

That's why I keep the Sabbath on I would

urge you to the but not so that you can

be justified so that you don't live out

in bondage all the time.

It's a blessing if you don't see it as a

blessing that I always tell you.

But don't don't

earn God's favor. Don't get baptized to

put a letter set another

don't come to church to earn your way to

heaven. That just

more damnation.

We take communion every Sunday.

It's a reminder. This body is for you.

This blood is for you. This is the blood

of the new covenant. It was a new

beginning by Jesus Christ. A new genesis

for each and every one of us. When we

rest in him, we're justified.

Every

We have rest.

Father God, we thank you Lord that you

came to relinquish our death. More than

that, you sent us out with a blessing.

But more than that, you gave us the Holy

Spirit whereby we cry, "Aba, Father,

we are coairs of Christ." Lord, we long

for the day when we will sin no more. We

long for the day. We won't have to

mortify the flesh. There will no longer

be falling into sin and pride and

arrogance and greed and selfenteredness.

Just naturally we love you with

everything that we're done. Heart, soul,

mind, and strength and we just naturally

love our neighbor as ourselves. God,

give us the full

change, oh Lord, by your holy spirit.

Father, we don't want to si

God

to walk in your spirit and holiness

and love one another in humility.

We have shown you

the Lord require you to

mercy

on the living.