King Above Our Mess | Matthew 1:1-17 | Sunday PM | Pastor Israel

Well, again, welcome and good to have you here tonight.

Would you please open your Bible to the New Testament book of

Matthew in Chapter 1? As you're turning there, let me

remind you of some announcements from this morning, ladies, this

Tuesday, 9:30, time for gathering and study together out

of the book of Ruth. An invitation also to Wednesday

when we gather to pray 7:00 here in the church.

God is doing a great work in our midst, in our hearts and lives

as as we can just see families pressing into the Lord,

individuals desirous of of understanding God's word more

and being transformed by it and living for him and obeying him

in these last days. And part of that is recognising

that we're stewards of that which God has given to us.

And so we give of our tithes and offerings.

And I just want to pray now and ask the Lord the blessing upon

that as we trust him with our resources.

Then we'll get stuck in to our study tonight of God's Word.

Let's bow our heads, let's close our eyes.

Father in Heaven, thank you for the privilege of being called

your people, the generosity that you have displayed to us.

And as your family, as your children, we cannot help but be

generous. Help us to recognise that we're

to be stewards wisely using that which you have entrusted to us.

So we give back to you of our first fruits and our tithe and

offerings, and we do so with glad and cheerful hearts.

And I ask that you would use that which we give for your

glory and purposes here on earth as in heaven.

And thank you now again, as it has been prayed for your

wonderful word. But now we have the opportunity

to open and in in the coming weeks studying through the book

of Matthew. It will be such a blessing to

us. And we ask that blessing be upon

us now in Jesus name, Amen. The title of tonight's message

is the King above our mess. We're going to have a look at

Matthew chapter 1 verses one through to 17.

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

And maybe you've read ahead and you've been looking at those

verses and you're going, surely we're not going to read the

genealogy. And most of us, when we read

these in our devotions, we might skip over them.

We're going to read it all. And we, we kind of did this as

we studied through the book of Nehemiah.

We saw a list of names and we saw how important they were.

And I think what we'll see tonight is I want to show you

why these are of great interest to us.

Matthew, chapter one, verse 1 to 17.

I'll read it now out of the new King James Version.

The book of the genealogy Matthew begins of Jesus Christ.

Now Christ is not Jesus last name, it is Jesus the Christ

meaning the Messiah, the promised 1 the anointed one, the

son of David, the son of Abraham.

Verse 2 Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, Jacob begot

Judah and his brothers Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar.

Perez begot Hezron and Hezron begat Ram, Ram begot Aminadab.

Verse 4 Aminadab begot Nation and nation begat Salmon Salmon.

Verse 5 begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed

begot Jesse and Jesse begot David the king.

David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of

Uriah. Verse 7.

Solomon begot Rehoboam, Rehoboam begot Abuja and Abuja begot ASA,

ASA begot Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat begot Joram, and

Joram begot Uzziah. Verse 9.

Uziah begot Jotham, Jotham begot Ahaz, and Ahaz begot Hezekiah,

Hezekiah begot Manasa, Manasa begot Ammon, and Ammon begot

Josiah. Josiah begot Jeconiah and his

brothers about the time they were carried away to Babylon.

Verse 11 And after they were brought to Babylon, Jack and

Niah begot Shield Teal and Shield Teal begot Zerubbabel,

Zerubbabel begot Abayud, Abayud begot Eliakim, and Eliakim begot

Azor. Verse 14 Azor begot Zadok, Zadok

begot Akim, and Akim begot Iliud, Iliud begot Iliasa,

Eliezar begot Matan, and Matan begot Jacob, and Jacob begot

Joseph. Notice the husband of Mary, of

whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

And so verse 17, all the generations from Abraham to

David are 14 generations, from David until the captivity in

Babylon are 14 generations, and from the captivity in Babylon

until the Christ are 14 generations.

Stopping there. Well now be honest, reading

those verses, was that a little bit tedious?

And I'm not saying that we did not value that in reading

through it. And as you read through it, you

realise, OK, it's God's word, it's important, here's what sits

beneath that is we're not sure of it's application, right?

We don't really enjoy reading genealogies.

Generally speaking, we see this as the Jewish phone book list of

names and if we were writing a book, put yourself in Matthew

sandals. If you were beginning putting

pen to paper writing, OK, I'm going to write the Gospel of

Matthew. Would you begin like this?

It's akin to could you imagine commencing reading a fictional

book And the beginning chapter was now here's a list of all the

characters in this book and just rattled off, you know, the

people that you can come across and that.

And so ends chapter 1. Oh, OK, This book's not really

getting me because we understand in literature that the beginning

is what hooks us in, right. We talk about the hook in

narrative writing and in in movies and in TV series.

The opening sequence before the credits is is to hook the viewer

in to capture their attention in readiness for the story that

lies ahead. We've been taught that you need

to grab the attention of the reader of the viewer of anybody

engaging. Now listen.

The authors of the Gospels knew this.

Think of the Gospel of Mark. Mark is all about colourful

characters. He commences with John the

Baptist. John the Baptist is clothed with

camel hair. He's eating locusts dipped in

honey, is baptising people in the Jordan River, proclaiming

repentance for the Kingdom of God is at hand.

And then Jesus comes onto the scene and the sky opens up and a

voice from heaven says, this is my beloved son in whom well

pleased. And then not long after that,

demons are convulsing and screaming cry.

We know who you are, Jesus. That's the beginning to a book,

right? That's how you start a book.

Luke, the Gospel of Luke. Luke starts with a bold claim

about being a better book. He says, I know that you've read

many other accounts before, but let me tell you, effectively

this is the best. He writes as an historian, as an

eyewitness and those that he'd interviewed and investigated.

And he says, I'm about to give you a fuller account of that

which you've come across. That's going to work.

That'll grab readers attentions. And John, oh, the Gospel of John

starts with mystery, using this kind of ethereal language that,

you know, is kind of otherworldly.

Jesus is the word. It's like a new genesis.

You know, in the beginning was the word, he says, and was with

God and became flesh. Oh, I'm curious about that.

Matthew in the beginning kind of this nerdy voice, odd picture

and Jesus was born by and he rattles off all of these list of

names. He throws out these 46 different

names repeating some. Some are hard to pronounce as we

read through it before we get to Jesus.

I don't think it's really a page Turner by modern standards.

And yet let me tell you something.

History indicates to us that in the first two centuries, you

know, which gospel was by far the most widely read and

consumed if we use that language, Matthew, when the

early church fathers came together to put the Canon of

Scripture and thinking of the New Testament, you know, you

picture them gathered around, they go, oh, oh, we, we should

start with Matthew. That'll be a great thing to

start the New Testament with. Let's put that at the beginning.

The intro is the best. So they knew, don't you think?

You've got to do something to grab the the attention of the

reader. So what are we as the modern

reader missing in this list of names?

What is it that we're not getting out of this?

Why are we tempted to skip the intro and pick up from verse 18

out of Matthew chapter 1? Want to try and help us here?

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

A little historical background on the book of Matthew and on

the man Matthew. There's a time gap between the

last book and the Old Testament, Malachi.

And here Matthew of some 400 years, the last book of the Old

Testament, the first book of the New Testament.

Bible scholars call this the silent years.

That means that there were no prophetic words recorded that

were given to the people of God during this time.

It begs the question, why? Why was God silent?

400 years is a significant, significant, you know, period of

time. We try to help you and by

thinking of it this way, Imagine you have a significant

announcement to make and, and you're gathered with a group of

people and there's noise in the room and you, you need to make

that announcement. What do you typically do?

OK, everybody listen up. You try to get silence in the

room, try to draw attention to I have an announcement to make

everybody. And you wait for the silence to

settle before making said announcement.

That's what God was doing. The major announcement is listen

up everybody. Listen.

The Messiah is here, the promised one, the Christ.

In Hebrew, Matthew's name is Matthew Yahoo, which means gift

of Yahweh. So if your name is Matthew here

tonight, what a great name. If you go by Mat, I think you're

selling yourself short. Full it Matthew, gift of Yahweh.

Matthew was one of the 12 disciples chosen by Jesus.

You'll know and remember from your prior knowledge that he was

a tax collector also went by the name of Levi.

Being a tax collector that was the lowest of lows in Jewish

society. You were a sell out.

You were working in cohesion with the the Romans and you were

taking advantage of your fellow Jews skimming off the top and

and they were hated by their fellow countrymen.

He worked for the Roman government.

And yet we read that when Christ calls him, he leaves everything

and abandons that to follow Jesus, even throwing a great

feast for him. Matthew probably wrote his

gospel around 50 AD and specifically targeting a Jewish

audience. So it's very Jewish in in

language. And so it's very Jewish,

particularly in these first few verses as to why he commences

with the genealogy, which we'll get to in a moment.

And he's all about bringing evidence that points to Jesus

being the fulfilment of the prophetic promises from the Old

Testament of a Messiah of the anointed, one of the one who had

delivered the people of Israel. And he says that Jesus is this

Messiah king. There are more than 100 quotes

from the Old Testament in the book of Matthew, more than any

other New Testament writer. And the word Kingdom appears 54

times when the early church fathers gave each gospel a

symbol that captured its theme. Maybe if you've done a tour of

different churches and you've seen some of the gospels

pictured with a symbol. The book of Matthew was given

the symbol of a lion to symbolise the kingly aspect of

Jesus being the King of the Jews.

And it so fits perfectly with the title Today, The King Above

Our Mess. I want to establish what

Matthew's purpose was in writing because it sits in our

understanding of these verses. He is again presenting Jesus as

the expected Messiah, as the King, the King of the Jews.

And any Jewish reader encountering the Gospel of

Matthew would know that if Jesus were to be the Messiah King, he

would have to fulfil 2 covenant conditions.

What's called the Abrahamic covenant and the Davidic

covenant to be the Messiah would depend on a lineage connection

to both Abraham and both David. The Messiah would need to be a

descendant of Abraham and a descendant of David.

And that's why Matthew declares this first of all in verse one,

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

These are two ear perking claims for the Jewish mind to go.

Hang on a minute, son of David, son of Abraham.

And it grabs their attention because there are huge promises

given by God to David, given by God to Abraham that have huge

implication for Israel and the rest of the world.

And the book of Luke presents a genealogical record of Jesus

through his mother Mary, while Matthew presents it through

Joseph, Jesus legal adoptive father.

Again, Jesus had no biological earthly father.

That's why it says here that he was the husband of Mary.

God supernaturally impregnated Mary.

So Jesus was born of a virgin, as the prophetic word says.

But both lines, Mary's and Joseph's, track their ancestry

back to King David. And this is absolutely vital

because the Messiah had to be a descendant of David.

So let's look at that. David, as mentioned first in

verse one, what is this Davidic covenant?

What is this promise given to David?

It was promised by God to David that a future king would come,

descended out of David, whose dominion, whose Kingdom would

last forever. And yet people knew, certainly

the Jewish mind did, that son after son, grandson, great

grandson, and so on, descended of the line of David and died

and died and died. And their dominion, their

Kingdom, did not last forever. But there was one who would come

along the scene, and it was promised that he would be that

through which kingly rule out of David's line would be

established across the earth forever.

To Samuel 7, verse 13, God said to David, he shall build a house

for my name, and I will establish the throne of his

Kingdom forever. Verse 16 And your house, David,

and your Kingdom shall be made sure forever before me.

Your throne shall be established forever.

And then in Jeremiah the prophet says in chapter 23, verse 5 to

6, Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will

raise up for David a righteous branch, and he shall reign as

king. And then we know Isaiah Chapter

Isaiah 9 · chapter mention

9 verse six to seven. We bring that out at Christmas

time, for unto us a child is born.

And on the verses go. And the government shall be upon

his shoulder on what? The throne of David for

evermore. So there is a promise, the

Davidic covenant, where God said to David, David, I know you want

to build me a house, but you can't.

Your son will Speaking of the temple.

But let me tell you what, David, I'm going to establish your

line, and out of your line will come a king whose dominion will

be established forever, and he will rule and reign on the earth

forever. That's the Davidic covenant, the

Abrahamic covenant. He's mentioned also in verse

one, the son of Abraham, God picked him, you'll remember in

Genesis from heir of the Chaldeans.

He said, I'm going to make a great nation out of you, Abram

Avram as you pronounce it, and change his name to Abraham.

And out of this nation Abraham will come, one who would be a

blessing to all the nations of the world.

Genesis 12 one to three. And in you all the families of

the earth shall be blessed in Genesis 2218, and in your

offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.

And on these promises are confirmed again and again to

Abraham and to his children in Isaac and Jacob, and on through.

So everyone knew in reading Matthew that if this Messiah

King was to come upon the scene that he would need to fulfil

these two covenants, these two promises, the Davidic and the

Abrahamic covenant, And God would rule through him this

individual and love and bless and bring the Kingdom of God

upon Israel and the whole world. And so this is Matthews

contention from the very beginning of this book.

Let me tell you about the one who is the son of David, who is

the son of Abraham. Jesus is his name, Jesus the

Christ the Anointed. 1 And many had claims to this back in the

1st century AD. There were messiahs popping up

here, there and everywhere. There are all sorts of people

laying claim to that. Even in Jesus Day when we read

that there were people who had had brought up these

insurrections against the Roman Empire and laid claim to being

the Messiah. But Matthew's claim is, I will

tell you who the true, the real Messiah is, Jesus of Nazareth.

He's the Christ, the Messiah, the promised king.

Now think of the audience, the people of Israel.

They've been waiting thousands of years since this promise had

been given to Abraham, since this promise had been given to

David, 700 years since Isaiah I quoted from out has has been

written 400 years since the last Old Testament book in Malachi.

And this relative silence as they've been languishing,

waiting, oppressed by the hands of multiple regimes.

Consider their history and now the Roman Empire's ruling and

has dominion in the land of Israel.

And all the while, don't you think that the people of Israel

are wondering about the fulfilment of these promises?

When, when is this going to happen?

I I read it and I hear it and I hope for it.

But when? When is this salvation spoken of

going to come? When will Messiah be here?

Where is this child who is promised?

Where is this king? And where is his Kingdom, whose

dominion lasts and stretches throughout all of the world?

And as Israel hoped for this and long for this, they had to do so

amidst brokenness and pain and heaviness and missteps and being

trampled upon by other nations around them.

And circumstances certainly look messy, especially at this time

in which Matthew is writing. And it looks so unlikely the

fulfilment of this promise in the 1st century AD.

And think of the implications. Rule the world implies

prosperity. It implies military might,

political prestige, success, prominence and victory.

All of the things that Israel we're not experiencing.

They'd been slaves in Egypt some 400 years.

They'd wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.

They'd gone through king after king.

Descended from David, yes, but they were up and down and they

were good king and bad king and so on.

They'd had captivity in Babylon for 70 years, and the Grecian

Empire ruled, and now the Romans.

And, and none of this was what had been promised.

Where is this peace? Where is this prosperity?

And many longed and hoped for it, but man, they, they were

barely clinging and hanging on. Where's this forever Kingdom?

Where is this deliverer? When will these covenantal

promises come true? Do you ever think like this

about the promises of God? God, how can what I'm

experiencing be your plan for me?

How can how can what I'm going through be what I'm what I'm

reading and what I'm hoping for? And how is this a blessing?

We we feel like this like the audience that Matthew's writing

to. Sometimes we look around like

the people of Israel no doubt were and say this can't be, this

is such a mess. God, when will your plans, when

will your purposes be fulfilled? But Matthew's introduction would

tell you and I tonight that God knows exactly what he is doing

and exactly what he is doing in the mess.

And then he is able to work out his sovereign plan perfectly.

Matthew wants you and I to understand this.

He certainly wanted his original audience to understand it.

And so he starts with the genealogy.

It doesn't include everybody in the genealogy, but pick certain

ones that are helpful in telling the story.

And there's symbolism and patterns here.

Remember Matthew? He's a tax collector, so he's

all about numbers. Notice that we read up 14

generations from Abraham to David, from David to captivity,

captivity to Jesus. There's something in certain

languages that that numerical values are placed to the letters

and so on. Something called gematria, the

assigning of numerical value to letters and words for symbolic

significance. David's name in Hebrew has three

letters, Dilette, and the number 4 is allocated to it, Valve

number six allocated to it, and Dilette repeated 4.

Do the math, That's 14. The numerical value of 14,

David's name is even 14th in the list.

So Matthew, he's, he's about numbers and he's trying to tell

a certain type of story and he picks a certain type of people

to focus in on. And this is now where I want to

draw our attention in this genealogy of the people that

that seem even odd to the original Jewish audience, let

alone you and I tonight. There's some certain names in

here that the Jewish audience would have been offended about

including. And, you know, if you and I were

writing an ancestral record of our, you know, linear engine

where we've come from, there'd perhaps be certain names that

we'd gloss over or leave out of the story because of the

embarrassment maybe that they are.

You see, the Jewish mind understood that the nations

would be blessed. Yes, yes, yes.

But through US, through US first.

Very Jewish focused. It's very much an insider

movement. And so outsiders and Gentiles

weren't seen as important, just a byproduct.

And so on purpose, Matthew eaves Gentiles into the story.

And then there's some really messy stories included in this.

And he mentions women in the genealogy.

Matthew mentions Mary, obviously, but makes mention of

four other women. And I highlight that because

women ordinarily were not mentioned, not, not required.

So it's already outside of the norm the way that Matthew is

structuring and recording this genealogy.

So let's look at this, these messy stories of some of these

individuals in here and want to highlight them because I think

we'll find our story because if we were to be honest, we would

declare, you know what? My life is just as messy.

The things that I've done, the things that I've experienced,

the things that have been committed against me.

It is tragic, it is a mess, and boy, it's embarrassing and I

hate for people to find out about it.

But Matthew records in all of the messy detail, the names,

some very interesting individuals.

Matthew 1 verses two to three. We have the story of Tamer.

You can find that account back in Genesis 38.

She was the daughter in And there was a custom back then

that culturally, without a descendant, then the

responsibility fell to the next son in line to marry the

deceased, you know, brother's wife to continue his line.

And so Onan was married. And I should have prefaced

tonight saying it's a little PG with some of these stories here,

because Onan, he conducted himself wickedly.

And when he went in unto Tamar, instead of conceiving, he did

everything that he could to ensure that he would not

conceive. You can read the story and all

of its graphic detail in Genesis 38.

So God killed Onan and Judas thinking, I've got a third son

who's not yet of age, and the responsibility is that she's to

marry him. But there's a common denominator

here. So he he delays.

So why don't you go back to your home and just wait till my third

son sort of, you know, comes of age and then we'll make it

happen. And you know, he can marry you

and so on. But he doesn't.

Now Tamar takes matters into her own hands and she knows what

kind of a man Judah is. And so she poses as a a

prostitute on the way of him visiting into a town.

And prostitutes back then were attached to worship of other

gods. So a temple prostitute no less.

And he propositions her and he goes in under her.

And when it comes to making payment at the end, he's, you

know, I haven't got my wallet. And she's that's OK.

Give me your signet ring and your staff and then, you know,

come back and bring me the sheep.

And then he goes to send off one of his mates to go and make

payment. And he's inquiring where's the,

the prostitute? The temple prostitute.

There's no temple prostitute. They say he's realising I've

been done and quickly just forget about it.

Don't worry about it. And then word three months later

eventually gets to Judah. Judah, guess what?

Tamar is pregnant. Bring her out.

He's filled with indignant rage and and just wants to bring her

out and have her stoned to death.

Who did this? Judah cries out to Tamar.

Tamar pulls out his identification.

Is this your licence, Judah? Is this yours, Judah?

That's a messy story. Twins were born, but that's in

the genealogical record of Jesus, Perez and Zerah born by

Tamer of Judah. Matthew one, verse five, Storey

of Rahab. Remember, Rahab and the

Israelites are coming in to make their conquest of Canaan land

and Jericho, the book of Joshua. The spies are sent out and

they're spying out the city of Jericho.

And where do they reside? In the House of the prostitute

Rahab in Jericho. She hid the spies, you know the

story how it goes that she, because she hid the spies was

told by the spies that if you'll dangle down the scarlet thread,

we, we make promises that when Jericho is attacked, you and

your household and anybody that you can gather in will be saved.

And she does exactly that. And some members of her

household and Rahab, an outsider and a prostitute at that, ends

up becoming a part of people of Israel being absorbed in that's

a messy story, but that's a part of Jesus story.

And also in Matthew 1 verses 5 and 6, we read of Ruth and the

Matthew 1:5

ladies are studying about Ruth on Tuesday.

And it's a wonderful story of redemption and and Ruth is a

wonderful example of a woman of God, but she was an outsider of

the people of Moab. And if you know anything about

Moab in the book of Genesis, it's it's a dubious family tree.

To put it bluntly, the Moabites were from a line conceived by

incest, the story of Lot and his daughters in Genesis 19.

And as outsiders, Moabites weren't accepted into the people

of Israel. They were looked down upon.

And now her rough, downtrodden experience becomes part of the

family tree of Jesus. And and what we see of Ruth is

that she ends up marrying into a a royal line because out of her

comes King David. What a story.

Speaking of David, Matthew, chapter one, verse 6, Bathsheba,

her name's not mentioned, but we know who she is, says that she

was the wife of Uriah. It's a messy story.

David, at the time when kings go to war, it says, is up on his

rooftop and he looks out and he spots Bathsheba.

He enquires about her and word comes back as to who she is.

She's the daughter of and she is the husband of and the two

individuals that she was a daughter of and a husband of

were part of the mighty men of David, people that fought

alongside David. And yet David commits adultery

with Bathsheba and to cover it up commits murder of Uriah the

husband, thinking that he's gotten away with things he

hasn't until Nathan the prophet instructed by God, comes onto

the scene. What a messy story of Bathsheba

and David. It's not just the women.

As we read through some of the names mentioned, the men in the

line weren't exactly role models either.

You talk about an ancestry that wow, let's keep that quiet.

Abraham verse 2, yes, he's the father of faith that's mentioned

there, but Abraham was a liar. He lied twice, claiming twice

that his wife was his sister, protecting himself in the

process. Very cowardly actions.

Abraham is mentioned Jacob verse 2.

You know his name literally means deceiver, heel catcher.

He stole his brother's birthright, tricked his father

in law out of the best sheep, he messed with his father and

Isaac, put on the whole hairy arms and you know, in cahoots

with his mum in the neck and put on the clothes of his brother

Esau to steal the blessing. His life was a mess until God

changed his name to Israel. And that's my name, Prince of

God, governed by God. I'm so glad I'm not Jacob.

Judah. We read of him verse three.

He was a philanderer, paid a prostitute, turned out to be his

own daughter in 700 wives and 300 concubines and

idolatry reached its height in his reign.

Rhea Baum is mentioned in verse 7 was divisive.

His actions split the Kingdom and civil war ensued.

Joram in verse 8 was a murderer. He killed six of his brothers to

secure his throne. And Manasseh verse 10 was pure

evil. He even sacrificed his own son

in the fire to a false God. That's some messy stories.

Matthew, putting pen to paper, guided by the Holy Spirit, is

very careful to include these characters in this story.

Why does this teach us? Why include these?

Why does the Holy Spirit guide Matthew in these ways?

I mean, why not Sarah? Why not Rebecca?

Why not Rachel? These are nice Jewish girls.

You could have included them in your genealogy, Matthew.

But why these individuals that are mentioned here?

Because the purpose of the gospel is to preach the good

news of Jesus Christ. And he begins to preach from the

very first line. Does Matthew the son of David?

Oh, what a mess was David the son of Abraham?

Oh, what a mess was Abraham. And these guys aren't worthy and

these guys aren't deserving. But that's who the Messiah came

for. That's who the Messiah is meant

for. For listen to this.

Those who do not deserve him. Story is meant for the Sinner.

Story of Jesus is meant for the ashamed, for the guilty, those

who are the outsider, the outcast, the unwanted, the

sinful, the broken. Listen to what Jesus himself

said in Luke chapter 5. He said, I have come to call the

Luke 5 · chapter mention

sinful to repentance. And you know what?

The sinful are messy stories. You know who the sinful are you,

Me, the reader, the listener. They recognise even in this

genealogy, just as we are to tonight.

That's me. I'm in this.

Our stories include the same as this.

We're the outsiders. We're we're full of sin.

There's brokenness in our lines. There's pain, there's there's

hurt. There's tragedy, there's

deception. There's mess after mess after

mess. But you know what?

It doesn't end there. It ends in redemption, not ruin.

It ends in Jesus. In 16, Jacob begat Joseph, the

husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called

Messiah, Christ the Anointed. 1 And when Jesus arrived on the

scene, he said in Luke chapter 4 verse 18 to 19, quoting out of

Luke 4:18–19

Isaiah 61, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has

anointed me to preach the gospel.

To whom? To the poor he has sent me to

heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the

captives, recovery of sight to the blind to set liberty those

who are oppressed to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

You know, this whole passage out of Matthew that we've covered

tonight should tell us the one who is writing the story is

bigger than any and all of our mistakes.

But no one is beyond the reach of His grace.

That our lives like Judah and Tamar, like Rahab the

prostitute, like Ruth of Moab, like David and Bathsheba.

Bathsheba can be redeemed in Jesus.

God's ending is dependent upon God and His faithfulness, not

man and his efforts. So here's the good news.

Your identity is not in your ancestors.

It's not in who your father was, in who your mother was.

It's not in your past. It's not in your failures.

It's not in your faults. In Christ, you are a brand new

creation. You've been given a new heart

and a new start, and what comes with that is a new purpose, a

new mission, a new legacy that can be left.

And you are not destined to repeat the sins of your family,

of those who have gone before you.

Being a Christian means that you are a new person. 2 Corinthians

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

Old things have passed away and behold, all things have become

new. And that's why Paul was glad to

declare. When you think of Paul and his

past in Philippians 3 verse 13 to 14, he said, Brethren, I do

Philippians 3:13–14

not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do

forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward,

straining forward to those things which are ahead Jesus.

And if there's anyone whose lineage whose ancestry could

have been looked back and go, well, I'm just like those that

have gone before me. Think of those that went before

Jesus. But Jesus lived his life for

what? The glory of his Heavenly Father

without letting his family tree deter or detract or define him.

Jesus identity and purpose and mission was defined by what the

Heavenly Father said was for him and God used some pretty messed

up people to accomplish his purposes.

The heritage that you and I have received from our ancestors,

from those that have gone before us, is not nearly as important

as the legacy that you can leave because of Jesus Christ.

Because the heritage that you have received in him is one that

glorifies God, is one that makes old things pass away and all

things become new. And I want you to see out of

this, these verses, these names, this Jewish phone book, the mess

of humanity. And there are times where we can

sit here and we can be thinking, man, I don't deserve this.

And who am I kidding? And I look around, I see people

worshipping and praising God and I don't feel like it.

And our thoughts and all that we've done, all that we've said,

all that's been done to us, all that's been said to us, can, can

really do a number on our mind, can it not?

And we can let that detract or deter or define us in many

respects. But in Jesus Christ we need to

see that he is the King above all our mess.

And here's the King who redeems all our mess, and his name is

Jesus, who is called the Christ. The next week we get into the

nuts and bolts of the narrative of Matthew.

And I'm really looking forward to our study through Matthew

because not only do we have the life and the events of Jesus,

but we have the teachings of Jesus and the parables of Jesus,

the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes.

We have prophetic words that will come that speak to

relevance in our day and age. We certainly have the the death

and the the resurrection of Jesus Christ so much that we

have to look forward to in Matthew.

But tonight I wanted to remind you that Jesus is the Messiah,

but Jesus is the anointed one. Jesus is the Christ, and he is

the King above all. No matter what mess you're going

through, no matter what mess you've made, no matter what mess

has been made against you, will you trust in Jesus as the King

tonight? Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for your wonderful word for this book

that we're about to embark in a study of an end.

Will you bless it and continue to guide us and teach us through

it? For each person here tonight,

you know their story. You know the events, the

circumstances, the situations. You know all that is going on.

You know all that they're thinking and feeling, all that

they have done, all that has been done against them.

Just as we were reminded of the names and the individuals in the

genealogy of you, we see that out of the mess of humanity,

still God, you are able to work and transform and bring about

the greatest blessing to humanity.

It's all in you, Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, the

anointed. 1 So we love you, and we thank you and we praise you

for the work that you have done in our lives, for the work that

you were doing in our lives, and for the work that you are to

fulfil not only in our lives but in this world.

It's in your name. Now we pray Jesus and God's

people said Amen, Amen. And God bless you and may He

guide you and lead you through this coming week.