Matthew | The Faithful Promise of the King

Well, good morning. It's good to see you guys today.

I'm going to say something to you that you haven't heard in a

very long time. Please open your Bibles to

Matthew chapter 1. All right, Matthew chapter one,

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

First Corinthians is finished. We move on to a new book,

Matthew chapter 1. I want you to know that the New

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

Testament does open in what we might call a surprising way.

It's not with a miracle. It's not even with a parable.

It's not with an angelic moments.

It opens with a genealogy. A genealogy 17 verses of names.

Side note that I will struggle with.

All right, a few. But if you and I were writing a

biography of Jesus, you were tasked with writing a biography

of Jesus. I don't know that the first

thought we would have would be would be to say, let's make a

list of names. But Matthew does, because

Matthew wants you to understand something foundational before

you ever hear Jesus teach, before you hear about his

healings, before you see him speak.

Matthew wants you to know this, that Jesus Christ stands at the

end of a long line of God's unbreakable promises.

Jesus stands at the end of a long line of God's unbreakable

promises. Jesus doesn't arrive randomly.

He he doesn't appear suddenly out of nowhere.

His coming is the climax of centuries of covenant

faithfulness from God to his people.

And Matthew doesn't hide anything in the genealogy.

He he doesn't paint with a beautiful brush in this

genealogy. He does include heroes.

He includes kings, but he also includes sinners.

He includes outsiders. He includes the broken.

He he includes those who are morally.

Complicated, we might say. The Holy Spirit wants you to see

that the people Jesus came from are the very kind of people that

Jesus came for. His family line is full of

grace, full of grace because his mission is to bring, to bring

grace to his people. You might recall that John and

his gospel at the beginning of it says that Jesus came full of

grace that that he was, that in him we have grace upon.

Grace. So as we begin this new sermon

series through the Gospel of Matthew, I want you to know why

we're doing this. I want to know how we'll go

about it, how we're going to walk through this book together.

Matthew's Gospel is structured around the major movements of of

Jesus life and ministry. We'll see his arrival.

You see his baptism, you see his his baptism in preparation for

ministry. You see his Kingdom preaching,

his miracles, his parables, his passion, meaning his

crucifixion, and you see his resurrection.

And so we're going to follow Matthew's spirit inspired

structure as we walk through this verse by verse.

And that means that the larger series, if this works out right,

the larger series is going to unfold in several smaller

miniseries within the whole. OK.

So, for example, this opening section aligns with Advance

right as we consider Advent next week, the arrival of the king,

as Matthew considers the arrival of the king, Matthew gives us

movements like this. And so we'll turn to Advent next

week as we start our Christmas season together.

We'll walk through all of these movements with one another.

So with that in mind, our series is titled The King and His

Kingdom, Matthew, the Kingdom, the King and His Kingdom.

Now the theme that carries us through this series, every

chapter is going to be this Jesus is the promised king.

Sorry, Jesus, the promised king establishes his Kingdom through

his word, his works and his people.

All right, So Matthew wants us to see that Jesus not is not

merely A moral teacher. All right, we live in a world

today that likes to praise Jesus as he was a good moral teacher.

Matthew also wants you to see these, not just some other wise

rabbi. Of his day.

Matthew wants you to see that he's the long-awaited Messiah.

He's the son of David, the high King of heaven, who brings the

Kingdom of heaven to earth. That's what Matthew wants us to

understand in this Gospel. So Matthew shows us that this

Kingdom is established and expanded through the word Jesus

proclaims. We're going to see a lot of

Jesus's teachings in the Gospel of Matthew.

He also wants you to see that this Kingdom is established

through the work that Jesus accomplishes.

And finally, he wants you to see that this Kingdom is established

through the people that Jesus calls, forms, and sends.

So his word, his work, his people.

My prayer is that as we move through this slowly and

carefully, that you will see Jesus more clearly.

All right? And you might say, well, I grew

up in church. I know Jesus pretty clearly.

But I hope that all of us, whether we've served the Lord

for a really long time or brand new to the faith, that we can

see Christ more clearly through this.

Why do we want to see Christ more clearly?

So that we might love him more deeply, that we might follow him

more faithfully. And every page reveals his

authority, his compassion, his teaching, his sacrifice, and his

triumph. And so as we see those things,

it's my prayer that our desire for Christ, our affections for

Christ, grow immensely through the series.

So as we read the genealogy in a moment, we're not going to skim

it, which is what we might be prone to do in our Bible reading

plans, right? As we read through the Word,

we're not going to turn it out. We're going to ask the Lord to

help us see his faithfulness through every generation,

leading finally and fully to Jesus Christ.

So if you're able, let's stand together now in honor of the

reading of God's Word, Matthew one one through 17, 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 Zahra by Tamar and Perez, the father of Hezron.

And Hezron, the father of Ram and Ran, the father of Aminidab.

And Aminidab the father of Nishon.

And Nishon the father of Sammon. And Sammon 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, 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

Jaconia, Jaconia, Jaconia, Jaconia sorry.

And his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

And after the deportation to Babylon, Jekhoniah was the

father of Shala Tale that'll work.

And Shaltale the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the

father of Abiad, and Abiad the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim

the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadak.

And Zadak the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliad,

and Eliad the father of Elizer, and Eliazer the father of

Matson, and Matson the father of Jacob.

And Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom

Jesus was born, who was called Christ.

So all the generations, from Abraham to David were 14

generations. And from David to the

deportation to Babylon 14 generations.

And from the deportation to Babylon to cry to the Christ 14

generations. This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word.

We thank you for the time that we have in it.

Lord, these are things that we're so tempted to skip over

sometimes just because of the difficulty of the names.

And Lord, I ask now that you would reveal Your word to us.

We know that it's important because it's here.

It's inspired by Your spirit. It's breathed out by your own

mouth to the pen of Matthew that we would know these things.

And so we ask, Lord, that you would open our eyes and our

hearts and our ears and our spirits to understanding.

Lord, would you guide us and strengthen us in our walk with

Christ as we've heard this word today.

It's in the name of Christ, I pray.

Amen. Amen.

You may be seated. So as we declare this is the

word of the Lord, we're saying this is God's word, right?

And at what first appears to be a bear list of names is actually

a sweeping story. Like if you're familiar with the

Old Testament even a little, you recognize a lot of the names

being mentioned there, right? This is a story that traces

God's faithfulness from Abraham through David all the way to

Jesus. And Matthew gives us not what we

would call a theological history.

Sorry. Matthew gives us what we might

call a theological history in giving us a covenantal family,

in giving us a portrait of grace in the form of generations.

So Matthew wants his Jewish readers especially, and us today

to understand that Jesus is not a new religious teacher who

appeared out of thin air, right? He's not some new rabbi doing a

great work. He is the son of Abraham.

He's the son of David. He's the promised king, the

gracious Savior, right? He's the one toward whom all

scripture in the Old Testament has been moving.

He's the one in whom all the promises of God find their yes

and their Amen. So here's where we're going

today. First, I want to show you who

Matthew is, the man and the message.

Just a little bit about the author.

Secondly, I want to show you the genealogy of grace that we've

just read where we see very, very clearly God's faithfulness

in the midst of brokenness. And #3 we want to see that Jesus

is the son of David and of Abraham.

And so we'll see God's faithfulness in the covenants.

But the main point that ties this together, if you're taking

notes or you have worship God, you can fill in the blanks on

this. The main point that ties this

together is this. God's covenant faithfulness

through generations reveals Jesus as one, the promised Son,

and two, the gracious King who came from sinners for sinners.

Right? I'll say it again.

God's covenant faithfulness through generations reveals

Jesus as the promised Son and the gracious King who came from

sinners for sinners. So with that in mind, let's take

a look at Matthew. All right, point #1 Matthew the

man and the message. Now, before we walk through the

genealogy itself, we want to understand who's writing?

Why is he writing? Who's he writing to?

All right, what's the purpose of this book?

We need to understand the man who wrote it and the message

that he wants us to hear. I want you to understand that

Matthew doesn't waste ink. There's 28 chapters in the book

of Matthew, and no ink is wasted, right?

He, he begins the Gospel in the exact way that his own story,

his own calling, and his own burden was shared by Christ,

revealed by Christ, and saved, redeemed by Christ.

And he reveals those things because he wants his readers to

know it. He wants us to understand that,

right? So who was Matthew?

Well, Matthew is also called Levi.

Levi or Matthew was a tax collector.

Even in our day we say right, But especially in this day, they

would say that Job meant several things to 1st century residents,

especially the Jews. Means he worked for Rome.

Rome was the Pagan empire occupying God's land at the

time. He collected taxes from Jewish

families, and not just taxes. He would often take more than

was required to fill his own pockets, right.

He was considered a traitor, he was a collaborator with evil,

and he was a thief. He was cut off from the

synagogue, he was treated as unclaimed, and he was socially

despised. All for money.

In other words, Matthew lived outside the boundaries of a

respectable Jewish. Life.

He was the man everyone avoided. He was the kind of man religious

people whispered about. And yet Jesus walks up to

Matthew's tax booth, looks him in the eye, and he says to him,

follow me now. That ought to speak to our own

hearts. Follow me, right?

Well, that moment changed everything for Matthew, just as

that moment has changed everything for you.

Matthew rose up. He left his old life.

He walked away from the table of Rome and joined the table of the

king of heaven. Matthew knows what it feels like

to be an outsider. He knows what it means to carry

shame. He knows what it means to be

regarded as spiritually unworthy.

And so Matthew's Gospel is uniquely qualified to highlight

Jesus as the merciful King who brings grace to sinners.

Matthew's telling his own story in many.

Ways. Right.

Matthew Henry, great Bible commentator, he said this as

Matthew's writing. He said he writes as one who

deeply, who's deeply sensible of the mercy that he had found.

He writes as one who is deeply sensible of the mercy he had

found. That's going to be clear in

every chapter. Matthew has a unique voice, just

as each gospel writer has a distinctive angle that they

take. Matthew's no different, right?

The Gospel of Mark shows Jesus as the suffering servants.

These are just brief summaries, right?

But the Gospel of Mark shows Jesus as the suffering servant.

The Gospel of Luke highlights Jesus as the Savior of all the

nations and of all kinds of people.

He's particularly writing to Gentiles.

The Gospel of John reveals Jesus as the eternal Son, full of

glory. John tells us that he writes

this book that you may see that Jesus is the Son of God, the

Messiah, and having seen him, find a life.

In his name. All right, so John's Gospel is

very, very evangelistic. And then the Gospel of Matthew,

well, it presents Jesus as the promised king.

He's writing to Jews. And so he's going to, we're

going to see a lot of that kind of language, but he presents

Jesus as the promised king. He's the fulfillment of the Old

Testament. He's the revealer of the Kingdom

of heaven. Matthew quotes the Old Testament

more than Mark, Luke and John combined.

He says again and again after his writings in some places this

was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophets.

He's wanting to hammer home. Listen guys, this is what we

have been being told for thousands of years.

Right. Matthew wants you to know two

things beyond all doubts. Number one, that Jesus is the

Messiah Israel has been waiting for.

He's the Messiah that Israel has been waiting for #2 He wants you

to know that Jesus is the King whose Kingdom reorders or

reshapes the entire. World.

And Matthew, a former traitor, A forgiven Sinner, a redeemed

outcast, is the perfect man to tell that story because Matthew

knows personally that the Kingdom Jesus brings to earth is

open to repentance. Sinners.

It's open to people like him. It's open to people like the

ones in this genealogy. It's open to people like us.

Amen. Matthew writes to persuade.

Matthew isn't merely recording history.

Matthew is preaching. Brothers and sisters.

He's exhorting. He's persuading.

The Gospel is an argument with a heartbeat, and Matthew wants you

to understand that. Matthew writes to convince us of

these things, that Jesus is the son of God, He's the rightful

king. Jesus is the son of Abraham.

He's the promised blessing. Jesus is the authoritative

teacher. He's greater than Moses.

Jesus is the Redeemer, he said, who saves his people from their

sins. Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us,

and Jesus is risen and reigning. Now these are the things that

Matthew wants you to see so clearly in this.

Gospel. And from the very beginning,

Matthew wants us to see him clearly, see Christ clearly.

That's why he puts a genealogy here.

So why does a man like Matthew begin with a genealogy?

Because Matthew knows two things intimately. 1 He knows the shame

of a tarnished past. I won't ask for a show of hands,

but all of us could raise our hand, right?

We know the shame of a tarnished past #2 he knows the power of

redeeming grace. He understands Christ, he

understands salvation, He understands what it means that

the King has come and his Kingdom has been established on

the earth. Matthew includes sinners in

Jesus family because Matthew is 1.

He names outsiders in Jesus family because Matthew is an

outsider. He highlights grace because he

has received grace from the Lord.

So Matthew doesn't introduce Jesus with a Halo, not from the

beginning. He introduces him with a family

tree that's full of sinners because Jesus came from sinners

for sinners. So why does Matthew write?

Well, He writes for the reason that all the authors of the

Bible have written. He wants to bring people to

Christ. He wants people to see the

Savior. He wants them to know the

Redeemer's grace, right. He doesn't write to impress.

He doesn't write to entertain. He doesn't write a literary

masterpiece as we might dub it, right.

He's not concerned about the critics.

He writes to show us Christ. He writes so that sinners will

repent of their sins, but believe that Christ is Lord and

they'll follow the King who has rescued.

Them. The second thing we come to the

second point, the genealogy of grace, The genealogy of grace

and what appears at first glance to be a simple list of names is

in fact a carefully crafted theological portrait.

All right. It's, it's a portrait painted by

the Holy Spirit to show the astonishing faithfulness of God

across centuries. And it shows that faithfulness

of God across centuries despite human sin, despite suffering,

despite rebellion, despite weakness.

All right. Matthew is not merely

cataloguing ancestors. He's preaching A sermon through

a family tree. If you'll notice the structure,

there's three movements of covenant history in the

structure. Here Matthew organizes the

genealogy into three sets of 14, as is revealed in verse 17.

Not because there were only 14 names in each period, but

because he's highlighting 3 great movements in redemptive

history. Matthew.

Henry notes this about Matthew's Gospel and and the point of

these movements. He says in then we see the rise,

the rain, the ruin, and the revival of the Jewish state, and

that they are all pointed at in these three fourteens, right?

The rise, the rain, the ruin, and the revival.

The movements are #1 from Abraham to David, the rise of

the promise, if you will. Verses 2 through 6A, Abraham was

the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the

father of Judah and his brothers.

All right. And then we get to in verse 6A

and Jesse the father of David, the king starts with Abraham,

gets us to David. This is the section of

patriarchs and promise. You see, God called Abraham out

of paganism. He makes him a covenant promise,

but through his seed all the nations would be blessed.

We see that in Genesis 12/1. Through three you have Isaac,

Jacob, and Judah who follow Abraham.

These are flawed men, yet chosen by the grace of God.

And so here the genealogy shows us that God's plan begins with

God's initiative, right? It doesn't begin with human

merit. We can't point to these men and

say they were worthy of being called.

Abraham wasn't seeking God, yet God called him.

Isaac was weak, yet God preserved him.

Jacob was deceiving and unstable, and God transformed

him. And from this line, which is a

line marked by infertility, it's marked by wandering, it's marked

by family conflict and various sins, and all of it, God is

building the foundation for his Kingdom.

So this first section shows us God's promises do not depend on

perfect people and all God's people said.

Amen. All right.

They depend on a perfect God. They depend on a perfect God.

The second movement we see is from David to the exile, the

rise and fall of the Kingdom. 6 be to verse 11 there.

And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah,

Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and then on down to verse 11,

and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the

time of the deportation to Babylon.

We see the rise and the fall of the Kingdom.

This is the section that you might call crowns and

catastrophes, right? It begins with King David, the

man after God's own heart with whom God made an everlasting

covenant in Second Samuel 7th. But after David comes Solomon,

and after Solomon comes division, and after division

comes decline. What follows in this list is a

mix of faithful kings and wicked kings.

It's men of courage and men of compromise.

Some LED revival, others LED rebellions.

Their sins, which were idolatry and justice, immortality or

immorality, ultimately brought judgement on the nation.

The Babylonian exile, which you've been learning about in

Sunday school, you've learned about it home groups a little

bit as well. But the Babylonian exile

represents the collapse of the Kingdom, right?

The temples destroyed, the throne is empty.

The line of kings have apparently been cut down like a

tree. But Matthew Henry notes

something stunning here as well when he says when the crown had

fallen from their head and the family was in the dust, yet out

of it the Messiah spring. The exile did not undo God's

promise. It prepared the way for God's

Messiah right. This middle section teaches us

this middle 14 here teaches us human faithfulness cannot

overturn God's faithfulness. I'm sorry.

Human unfaithfulness cannot overturn God's faithfulness.

The third movement we have from the exile to Christ.

You might call this the Quiet. Weight of Hope.

Verses 12 through 16 And after the deportation to Babylon,

Tekkenai was the father man. I did it again, and the father

of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiad, and then on

down to 16, and Jacob, the father of Joseph, the husband of

Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who was called.

Christ. The this final era is what we

might call an era of silence. It's an era of watching, looking

for the true king, the true Israel, the true Moses, the true

David, the true Abraham, the one who's going to come and

establish his Kingdom forever. During this time, there's no

prophets, there's no kings, no miracles, no revival, The line

of David continued, but it continued quietly, humbly,

almost invisibly. For generations, God's people

waited in the dark. And yet even in the silence, God

was working behind the scenes. Through ordinary men and women,

through obscure towns and unknown families, God preserved

the royal line until the day that he would bring forth the

king. Until this last section here

shows us, God's silence is not God's absence.

All right, if you're going through a difficult time and

you're looking for answers, you're really struggling to find

that. You're struggling to trust the

Lord in those moments, you might think that God's silence is his

absence, but I would urge you to go and read the book of Esther.

The book of Esther shows us that God, though he may be silent, is

certainly not absent. He's preserving his people

through his work. There's sovereign work right

through Providence. He's he's preserving his people.

That's what this, this third list of generations reveals for

us. His promises may wait, but they

never, ever, ever fail. His promises never fail.

Another thing that's worth noticing in these in this

genealogy is what we might call the scandal of grace, right?

Why these people? Why these people?

Why? Why does Matthew do something

that Jewish genealogies rarely do?

He includes women, but he doesn't include the matriarchs

you might expect. You don't read Sarah's name.

You don't read about Rebecca or Rachel, right?

Instead, there's four women whose stories would have raised

eyebrows among the Jewish people.

You have Tamar and verse 3, Tamar was a widow, she was

mistreated, She was caught in a scandal in Genesis 38.

Her story is messy, it's uncomfortable, and yet God

brings the Messiah through her line.

And verse 5, you have Rahab. Rahab was a Canaanite

prostitutes. She was a woman from the enemies

of Israel, and yet she believes the Lord and is welcomed into

Israel #3 you have Ruth and verse 5 also, she's a Moabite

widow. She's from a people who were

born out of incest and excluded from Israel's assembly.

Yet she clings to Naomi and to Israel's God and becomes the

great grandmother of David. Then you have Bathsheba, or as

it mentions in verse 6, the wife of Uriah.

Now Matthew emphasizes Uriah's name to highlight David's sin,

adultery, deception, bloodshed. Her story carries deep pain and

tragedy. And yet God brought Solomon and

ultimately the Messiah through Bathsheba.

So why include these stories? Well, because Matthew wants to

make something unmistakably clear for you and I today Jesus

family line is filled with sinners.

It's filled with outsiders. It's filled with the shamed,

it's filled with the suffering, It's filled with the morally

complicated. And he wants you to know that

because Christ's mission is to save sinners.

It's to welcome outsiders to himself.

It's to restore the shame, to redeem them.

It's to comfort the suffering. It's to redeem the broken

Matthew. Henry says Christ, who came to

save sinners, was pleased to come from sinners.

So this genealogy is not what you might call a trophy case.

It's not holding up the best things for people to see in the

glory and people. No, it's a testimony of grace.

You should also look at the pattern of this genealogy.

You might say that God writes straight with crooked lines.

Wait, we need to see this clearly.

God used liars like Jacob. God used scandal like Tamar.

God used outsiders like Ruth. God used the broken like

Bathsheba. God used idolaters like many of

the kings. And God used failure like exile.

And out of all of it, out of the mess, out of the sin, the

sorrow, the weakness, came Jesus Christ, the son of David, the

son of Abraham, the Savior of the.

World. So the genie Ali preaches a

message long before Jesus speaks a word.

God keeps his covenant promises not through perfect people, but

through his perfect grace. God's faithfulness outlives our

failures. The the people Jesus came from

are the people Jesus came to save.

Another thing I want you to notice about this genealogy is

it sets the tone for the entire gospel.

Sets the tone for the entire gospel.

The list of names is not incidental, brothers and

sisters. It anticipates Matthew's entire

message. Jesus heals the broken because

he came from the broken. Jesus welcomes outsiders because

his story is full of outsiders. Jesus calls sinners because his

family tree is full of sinners. Jesus brings grace because his

lineage is covered in grace. You see, Matthew begins the

Gospel this way because he wants you to see that Jesus didn't

merely come into our world. Sometimes we just think he came

into our world and did his thing.

No, Jesus came fully into your story.

He, he came fully into our humanity.

He came fully, fully into our shame, into our suffering, and

into our need. And so this is a genealogy of

grace. Third thing I want you to see

today is really what I might call the most important thing

that Matthew's trying to show here, and that's that Jesus is

the son of David and of Abraham. He's the son of David and of

Abraham. Matthew announces 2 titles in

the very first verse of this gospel.

Two titles that hold the entire Old Testament together.

Two titles that explain who Jesus truly is and why he came.

In verse 1, he says Jesus Christ, the son of David, the

son of Abraham. So Matthew places these titles

before the genealogy because they are Theo A theological

banner over the whole book. If you misunderstand these

titles that Jesus Christ is the son of David, he's the son of

Abraham. If we misunderstand these

titles, we will misunderstand Jesus.

All right, Matthew Henry says this verse is the summary of the

Old Testament reduced to a single.

Line. I think that's true.

Abraham and David are not just significant names in the Old

Testament. Their covenant heads whose

promise, whose promises converge in Christ.

So let's look briefly at each title.

Jesus, the son of David. This means that Christ is the

promise king, right? The Davidic Covenants, which was

a Kingdom promise, was established in Second Samuel 7.

God promised David something unmatched in the ancient world.

He promised him a throne, a dynasty, and a Kingdom that

would last forever. A son would come from David's

line. The son would build God's true

house. His Kingdom would be established

eternally. His rule would bring justice,

peace, and righteousness. Israel waited for this king.

They longed for him, they prayed for him, they suffered under

failed kings and foreign rulers because their true king had not

yet come. They rejected God's messengers

and so found themselves in further a further world of hurt.

And then we get the kings after David, and then we have success

and failure. The genealogy reminds us that

David's line is filled with kings, but many of them were

deeply flawed men. Now some did revive the nation,

like Hezekiah and Josiah, but some let Israel into idolatry,

like Ahaz and Manasseh. Some brought judgement upon the

people, like Jeroboam. The royal line became so corrupt

that eventually the throne was empty.

The people were exiled into Babylon and it seemed that the

promise to David had died. But you might note this miracle

that Matthew Henry points out. When the royal house seemed

buried in ruins. The root of Jesse still lived.

God was not done. The the promise still stood.

The king would come. And so the third thing we

observe in this part about David's title is that Jesus is

the fulfillment. He's the true and better David.

Jesus is not simply a descendant of David, brothers and sisters.

He is the son of David in whom the covenant reaches its final

and perfect fulfillment. He is the rightful king by

lineage. He is the righteous king by his

character. He's the eternal king by his

resurrection, and he's the global king by Great Commission

authority. Throughout Matthew, you're going

to see the Magi ask where is he who has been born king of the

Jews? You're going to see Jesus

proclaim the Kingdom of heaven more than 50 times.

You're going to see that Jesus is held on Palm Sunday as the

son of David. You're going to see that Christ

himself declares all authority in heaven and on earth has been

given to me. You see, Matthew wants you to

see that Jesus is the King that you and I were made to live

under. He's the King who reigns in

righteousness. He's the King who restores what

sin has broken. That second title, the son of

Abraham. Matthew now is pointing out the

promised blessing if Son of David denounces Jesus as king

and Son of Abraham announces him as the fulfillment of God's

covenant grace. Consider the Abrahamic covenant

for a moment, a blessing promised in Genesis chapter 12.

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

God promised Abraham a land, He promised him a people, and he

promised him a seed through whom all nations would be blessed.

We're told that Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as

righteousness. But the ultimate promise was not

about land. The ultimate promise was not

about ethnic Israel. The ultimate promise was about

the coming Messiah. Paul tells us this plainly in

Genesis 3. Sorry, Galatians 316.

He says now the promises were made to Abraham and to his

offspring, who is Christ. So Christ is the promised seed

who brings salvation to the nation's.

Amen. The second thing we see about

Abraham is we might consider his line, right, Abraham's line.

In it we have grace, we have weakness, and we have God's

faithfulness. So the genealogies inclusion of

Abraham's descendants reminds us this.

Isaac was passive and fearful. Jacob was highly deceptive.

Judah was immoral to say the least.

The family was riddled with conflict, and yet God kept his

promise. Matthew Henry again commentating

on this. He says though the covenant

seemed often in danger, yet it never failed.

The promise to Abraham lived until it lived in Christ.

Amen. The third thing we see about

this title, the son of Abraham is Jesus as the fulfillments.

He is the blessing for all nations.

Jesus fulfills the Abrahamic, Abrahamic promise in multiple

ways. He is the true Israel, obeying

where Israel failed. He is the light to the Gentiles

bringing salvation to the ends of the earth.

He creates a multi ethnic family of faith.

He is the one through whom all peoples, Jews, Gentile, male,

female, slave, free, are invited into God's covenant family.

So Matthew begins with Abraham, but he ends with in Matthew 28,

go and make disciples of all nations.

So from the first chapter to the last chapter, Matthew's Gospel

is global. Brothers and sisters.

The presence of Gentile women in the genealogy, like Rahab and

Ruth, these things are a preview.

They're a down payment, if you will, on the worldwide reach of

Christ's Kingdom. I want you also to observe in

this genealogy that Jesus is the fulfillment of both promises.

He's the King and the Savior appearing David and Abraham.

Matthew is teaching us that Jesus is the King who reigns.

He's the Savior who redeems, He's the Son who fulfills both

covenants. He's the seed who crushes the

serpent, and he's the shepherd who gathers the nations.

The genealogy's goal is not to impress you with a list of

names. It's not even to baffle you.

It's to show you that Jesus stands at the intersection of

every promise that God has ever made.

Everything in the Old Testament points to Christ.

Every covenant finds us, yes, in him.

Every prophecy converges on Christ, Every shadow points to

him, Every longing is fulfilled in him.

Matthew Henry says this. He says all the promises of

God's center in Christ, for he is the sum and the substance of

the covenant. So you may ask, what does all

this mean? As we look at this genealogy, as

we observe all these things, what does this mean?

Well, Jesus is not just the climax of Israel's history.

Jesus is the climax of God's story.

He's the King who reigns. He's the seed who blesses.

He's the Savior who redeems. He's the point of every bit of

it, and having seen that, we ought to rise up and call the

Lord blessed, but I'll praise his name.

What a sing about his marvelous grace and his mercy which is

extended to us. We ought to thank him for his

covenant faithfulness because we are not covenant Lee faithful.

Very often, to call Jesus the son of David, the son of

Abraham, is to say that he is the king that you must bow to.

Brothers and sisters. He's the one that we bend our

knees to, so to speak. He's the Savior that you must

trust. He's the Christ you must

proclaim. There is therefore now no other

name given among heaven by which we must have given among men, by

which we must be saved. He's the way, the truth, and the

life. No one comes to the Father

except through Christ. He's able to save to the

uttermost all those who draw near to the Father through Him,

because He always lives to make intercession for us.

He's our advocate in heaven when we're guilty of sin.

He's the one to whom we call on in our times of need, where we

need mercy and grace. We boldly approach the throne of

grace because Christ is in heaven.

He's a sympathetic, great high priest for us.

He bids us come to him. All you who are weary and heavy

laden, and I will give you rest. You could go on and on and on.

Christ is the fulfilment of God's story.

He's the culmination of all of it.

And so this genealogy stands as something that ought to lead us

to worship not merely admiration, but to worship the

King Christ. Is King Amen.

Matthew's genealogy is not simply a record of where Jesus

came from, it's a portrait of who he came for.

Across the 17 verses, we see roughly 2000 years of God's

unbreakable faithfulness and unchanging grace.

This family line filled with the kinds of people we might try to.

Hide. It's what?

Do you think about your own families?

But in this family, there's people who are broken, they're

sinners. There's outsiders, there's

people who are overlooked, they're wounded, they're wildly

imperfect. And yet through all of them, God

brought forth his own Son. And so this genealogy tells us 4

simple, life changing truths #1 God keeps his promises.

God keeps his promises. These are the things I want you

to know. You may write these down #1 God

keeps his promises. Not one word of His covenant

ever failed. Even when His people fell, God

did not. So what does that mean for you?

It means you should trust Him with everything that you are, at

all times, in all circumstances. Trust Christ.

He is faithful still #2 God works through broken people.

And all God's people said, Amen, your failures.

I want everybody to listen to me.

Your failures cannot will not cancel his mercy.

Your failures cannot cancel, will not cancel his

faithfulness. You can bring your past to

Christ. You can bring all your

weaknesses to Christ. You can bring all your wounds to

Christ. In fact, I would urge.

You to do that because he and he alone redeems what sin has

scarred #3 Jesus is the King we need.

Jesus is the King we need, so therefore you should bow to him.

I don't just mean on Sunday mornings when you sing a song

that you really like. I don't mean merely in moments

of trouble you really feel, feel like you've reached the bottom.

I mean, at every moment of your life, bow to the Lord Jesus

Christ. Submit yourself to Him.

Take refuge in His righteous rule.

He alone is worthy to lead your life.

Submit to Him. Fourthly and finally, Jesus

welcomes sinners into his family by grace.

Jesus welcomes sinners into his family by grace.

What does that mean? It's really good news for people

who pride themselves on trying to bring about salvation through

their own good works. It's really good news for people

who think that the goal of life is to stack.

Up every good deed I can, and just hope at the end of all

things that it weighs greater on the scale than my bad deeds do.

You cannot earn the acceptance of God, but you can receive it.

So come to him. Confess your need.

Confess that you have been a terrible Lord of your life.

Confess that you have been a terrible manager of whatever the

things God has blessed you with, that you've ruined by your own

inability at times, your own bad deeds, Right?

Confess your need, Christ, I need you.

I need you to lead me every moment of the day.

I need you to show me your word, to make it clear for me that I

might follow you. Confess your need.

Turn from your own sin. Believe in the name of Jesus

Christ. Trust that he did come, that He

did live a perfect life, that he died a sinner's death, having no

sin of his own, so that he might rescue all those who will call

his name from the pit of hell. Believe in his name.

He will never cast you out. You see, Matthew?

Begins his gospel with the genealogy so that you'll know

exactly who this Jesus is. He's the promised Son, the

gracious King who came from sinners, for sinners, and that

means that he came for you. So come to him today.

Trust him today. Maybe you have come to him and

there's something you're holding on to.

You're trying to remain Lord over that thing.

Trust it to God today. Lay down your fears, lay down

your shame, lay down your sin, and receive the mercy and grace

of the Lord this morning. You can follow him as your king,

the power of the Spirit of God in you.

You can walk by the Spirit just as we read in Romans 6 this

morning. You've been buried with Christ

and sin. You've been raised a new life.

You can walk with the Lord. You don't have to present your

members, your hands, your feet, your eyes, your mind, your

heart, your words. You don't have to present those

things as members of unrighteousness any longer.

You can present them as members of righteousness, doing the

works and the. Deeds of the Lord.

God Almighty, you can serve Him with every ounce of your being

You can. You can follow Him as your King.

You can rest in Him as your Savior.

You can rest knowing I don't have to stack up the good works.

Yes, I should be driven to good works by my faith in God, who

has been so gracious and loving and merciful to save me.

But my good works are not saving me.

They're just proclaiming the name of the king.

Matthew's going to make that clear in chapter 5.

You can walk. Forward in the confidence that

His grace is sufficient at all times.

You. Often don't know the grace from

the Lord that you need in any given moments until you need it.

And God makes it so clear that His grace is sufficient at all

times. His promises are sure.

His promises are yes and Amen. And with God His yes is always

yes. His amens are always faithful.

He cannot lie. He's sure.

You can come to him knowing with confidence that his Kingdom is

unshakable. You can look at the world around

you. You can look at the world, maybe

immediately in your own home. You can begin to think, Man,

this unshakable Kingdom seems rather shaky right now.

But look at that genealogy. The Kingdom of God is not

shakable. Brothers and sisters, He's

accomplishing His work. It's going forward.

Many of you sit here as Christians today because someone

preached the gospel to you some 2000 years after Christ died and

rose again. The gospel spread to your area.

Wherever you heard first. The gospel spread to that place

so that God could save you from your sins.

His work moves forward. Amen.

He's accomplishing every bit of it for His own glory, so that we

might rejoice in the glory of the Lord and commit ourselves to

the good of His Kingdom. So let us go from here today

remembering this. God's covenant faithfulness

through generations reveals Jesus as the promised Son and

the gracious King who came from sinners for sinners.

And yes, that does mean he came for you.

Brothers and sisters, let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you today for your word.

We thank you, Lord, for a genealogy.

We thank you for the truth that is revealed here, in which we

have only scratched the surface of the stories that this

genealogy tells about your faithfulness.

But God, we ask that you would help us to see it clearly today.

Help us to see it so that we can see that you are faithful.

Help us to see it so that we can see that.

You work through broken people. Like us, help us to see it so

that we can see also that Jesus is the King we need, and help us

to see it so that we can see that Jesus welcomes sinners to

himself. Father, I pray that You would

use this word in our hearts and in our minds and our souls as we

go out this week to honor you and to glorify you.

Help us, Lord, to build the Kingdom of God in everything

that we do as we live, as spouses and parents, students

and workers, churchmen and church women, a father, as you,

as you have given us things in the day to be doing, help us to

be mindful of your Kingdom always.

And Father, we thank you that you have shown us so much grace

and mercy, that the light of Christ has shown into our hearts

what a marvelous light it is. Help us to be the light in the

darkness. Let me give you a moment there

with your head bowed, just to pray, to respond to the Lord as

the Sirit's drawing you now. Heavenly Father, we thank you

that you are ever faithful, that you're steadfast in love, that

you are good to every generation.

We've seen that today. We proclaim it this morning, and

it's on our hearts as we prepare now to receive the Lord's

Supper. In the name of Christ I pray.

Amen.