Untitled Sermon (49)

As we begin today, I have been wrestling with where to go next for our time together, I wasn’t sure where to go but my mind kept going to the Gospel of Matthew.

Matthew, Volumes 1 & 2 The Son of David, the Hope of Israel

when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, ‘Lord, Son of

My reason for doing so is that for the last year, we have centered our teaching and preaching around the Law and the Gospel and how it is that we should be pursuing after Christ.

From this point forward, I want us to dig deeper about who the Jesus is that we’re supposed to be pursuing.

It is easy for us to say that we’re pursuing Christ. But the question I have for all people who would say that they’re pursuing Christ is which Jesus.

Which Jesus are you pursuing?

And in order for us to answer that question, the first question we must ask is “Who is Jesus?”

“Who is Jesus?”

With that in mind, please turn with me to .

Matthew 1:1–17 ESV

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.

Matthew 1:

Pray.

One of the first things I’d like to tell you this morning is that today will be more of a time of teaching than it will be of preaching.

And that is okay, we need both within the Church.

Preaching is with exhortation and commands to pursue after Christ.

Teaching is to equip the heart to be exhorted later through the work of the Spirit.

Often times, teaching gives us a deeper understanding of the Scriptures.

With that in mind, I want to go back to the original question I had asked a minute ago.

“Who is Jesus?”

What would you say if someone asked you this very question?

What if I also told you that there is a difference between knowing of Jesus and actually knowing who Jesus is.

I know of Donald Trump, his business practices and much about him.

A man was playing tennis with a friend of his at a tournament and the team they were set to

But I do not know the person Donald Trump.

Sadly, I think for much of the Church today, the same could be said concerning Christ.

We know of Jesus, little pieces here and there, little snippets about His ministry.

But for most, most do not know who Jesus truly is.

And I say this with confidence because even in our own Church today, I don’t see us asking the very questions the Gospels asked concerning Jesus.

Think about this for a minute.

All throughout the life and ministry of Jesus, one of the most common questions about Him was who He was.

Not a rough general oversimplification of who He is, but a true questioning of who He is.

When Jesus was on a boat in the middle of the Sea, a great windstorm arose that was threatening to overtake the boats and capsize them.

During this time, where was Jesus?

He was in the stern asleep on a cushion.

He was sleeping through a storm that was literally crashing waves over the boat.

The Disciples woke Jesus up and asked Him this question, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

And what was His response?

He commanded the winds to be still!

And what was the question the disciples had concerning Jesus?

“Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”

This was the disciples standing alongside of Jesus.

People who had watched as Jesus had done many great and mighty works.

And yet here they stood before Jesus, asking a question that I can only pray for us all to ask.

“Who then is this Jesus, the even the wind and the sea obey Him?”

But listen, this isn’t the only place this happened.

Think about .

Jesus goes and eats dinner with a religious leader and this wretched and miserable sinful woman comes and begins to wash the feet of Jesus with her tears and her hair.

Simon, the religious leader had much to say to Jesus about this concerning this woman’s sinful situation.

Yet Jesus rebuked Simon and spoke about the forgiveness she has for her sin.

What was the response of those which Jesus was dining with?

“Who is this, who even forgives sins?”

When Jesus entered the city on a Donkey and a Colt, the people followed before Him and laid out their cloaks and palm branches on the road before Him.

The people who went before Him and after Him proclaimed this very message, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

But what was the response of the people of Jerusalem?

“Who is this?”

“Who is this Jesus?”

The people were not asking some superficial question about Jesus.

They didn’t want to know about Jesus.

They wanted to know who He is!

They wanted to know the very depths of this man and His purpose for being amongst them!

They longed for a knowledge of Jesus that went far beyond His being Jesus of Nazareth.

In each of these situations, they wanted to know why Jesus had the Authority to command the winds to stop!

How He had the authority to forgive sin!

Why the people praised Him as God!

These are many of the very same question that I pray that each and every single one of us will be asking over the course of the study of the Gospel of Matthew.

My prayer is that within the depths of your own heart, you will begin to ask this question.

That your view of Christ will be elevated and that Christ will be exalted to His rightful place as King over all of creation and Lord of our hearts and lives.

With that in mind, let’s dig into our text for the day.

Look with me if you will at verse 1.

What is the first thing you notice about the introduction that we have concerning Jesus?

Look at the title given to Him in the very first verse.

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

Right off the bat, Jesus receives the name Christus Easus.

The Christ Jesus.

What does it mean for Him to be given the name Jesus?

I know that we don’t think much of names in our culture and time, but in the first century, a name meant a lot.

It spoke of your connection to your ancestry and to your lineage.

His name was Jesus not because it was fashionable or manly, but because it was loaded with significance.

Jesus’ name reveals a part of His identity, a part of His lineage.

says that He is to have the name Jesus because He shall save His people from their sins.

Matthew, who is the Apostle Matthew is giving a defense right off the bat concerning something that most people will merely gloss over and miss.

We want to focus on the title given to Jesus as the Christ.

While that is important, it is nowhere near as important as His name being Jesus.

Christ merely means anointed one in its easiest translation and there were countless many others who were anointed ones.

Yet all of those fell drastically short of being the Messiah.

So let’s not focus on the title, Christ.

Instead, let’s focus on His name as Jesus.

His name can be translated as Joshua but in our own native tongue, it is better understood as Jesus.

And the significance of that name reflects who He is.

Jesus is the son of Abraham and the Son of David.

Why is this important though?

Jesus in the Hebrew is Yehoshua which literally is translated as Joshua and means, Jehovah is Salvation.

Another way to render Jesus’ name would be God our Savior.

This is all important because it reveals that God is faithful to His Word.

Listen to

Genesis 12:1–3 ESV

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

G

What seems obscure here when we have a surface level reading of this passage is brought to life when we take God’s promise to Abram, and exegete what was meant.

You see God didn’t call Abram out of the land of Ur because he was a good and upright man.

In fact, says that Abram was a Pagan.

That he worshipped other God’s. That in many ways He was a barbarian and a gentile.

Yet God still called Abram out of Ur and offered to him a blessing that would one day be fulfilled in the person of Jesus.

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

This is a direct reference to God’s promise to preserve the line of Abram and bring about the redeemer through him.

This is God’s fulfilling His promise of .

Think for a minute about the meaning of Jesus’ name being able to be translated as Joshua.

Then think about the Joshua who succeeded Moses and led Israel into the Promised Land.

In his day, the Lord saved His people physically and materially by finally giving them their land and ending their long wondering through the desert.

Joshua was in many ways their redeemer.

Jesus on the other hand, was not here to save Israel military enemies or the Roman empire or even to give the people their land back.

Instead, He was here to redeem their souls and welcome them into a promised land far greater than Israel ever knew.

This Jesus instead began to address the problem that lies at the root of all pains and sorrows.

As so wonderfully say it, He shall save His people from their sins.

So now that we’ve talked about His name, let’s talk about His genealogy.

Jesus descended out of a line of Jewish Kings and on the surface, all of them appear to be noble Kings.

Yet when we look deeper, we see that this group of men were not so righteous.

David, though he repented was a murderous adulterer.

Jehoshaphat entered into alliances with wicked men.

In his foolish pride, Hezekiah showed the treasures of Israel to his enemies which led to Israel being plundered.

Uzziah became proud after many years of being a great King and overstepped his role and acted as a priest.

Ahaz worshipped pagan gods and killed one of his own sons.

Manasseh “did more evil than the nations” as Scripture put it.

Honestly, about half of the kings listed in the genealogy of Jesus were truly wicked.

Now you might be wondering all this matters.

Let me back track for just a moment and try to shed some light on this.

God’s initial promise to bring deliverance to all the world was to come through Abram.

The lineage of Abram must be preserved because inside of Abrams seed, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

And generation after generation, there was a war to depose this plan of God.

Yet even through the sinful rebellion of people’s hearts, God was faithful and steadfast.

God is always faithful!

Even when men’s feet may fail, He is forever faithful.

He was faithful to bring about the promise that was not only made to Abram, but also to David.

Look with me for a moment at

2 Samuel 7:12–15 KJV 1900

And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.

For many in the time of the Old Testament, King David was a King to long after.

In many ways he was a good and a righteous king, pointing the people unto the Lord.

The Lord knew the hearts of men and offered up a promise to household of Israel that one day, there would come a seed from David.

One who would lead them out of the exile they had found themselves in.

The promise offered hope that Israel would be restored to its former glory.

This hope was based off of the promise that God would restore Israel here in the physical world.

And while that is a true claim, it was not the intended purpose of this promise.

Instead, the Son of David’s throne is to endure forever.

It endures through Christ!

And this is where I want to draw our attention as we draw to a close.

This section as well as many other sections of Scripture which have the genealogies in them are always knocked, ignored or abused.

Even I am guilty of using them as something that would put me to sleep when I was having a hard time sleeping.

But, they do have a purpose of being in Scripture.

2 Timothy 3:16–17 ESV

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

These genealogies are a part of that Scripture and they are there to show us something.

And for us today, I want you to see the faithfulness of God through them.

Matthew shows us that through the genealogies that we find here, Christ fulfills the messianic call upon Him.

With just a quick stroke of the pen, Matthew ties Jesus into the line of both David and Abraham.

The most abused and neglected parts of Scripture must be the genealogies. The listing of these names is often neglected in our reading because: 1) the names are hard to pronounce; 2) we don’t know who the people are; 3) we think they have no meaning. Then why are they in the Bible? See , .

I. Jesus Was Born of God (v. 1)

The Jews in Jesus’ day understood the importance of this.

They knew that there was coming a Messiah, that God would be faithful in sending Him.

The Jew of Jesus’ day understood both of these prophecies. presents a question about the Messiah and the Pharisees’ answer that the Messiah would be the son of David.

This points to Jesus as the fulfillment of the entire Old Testament expectation.

Verse 17 divides this passage into three parts: 1) patriarchs; 2) kings; 3) private citizens. Some of those mentioned were not good people. No effort is made to cover up the evil doings of such people as Rehoboam and Manasseh. Five women are also mentioned:

1. Tamar, who had relations with her father-in-law while pretending to be a prostitute.

2. Rahab, who was a prostitute of Jericho.

3. Ruth the Moabitess, not a Jew.

4. Bathsheba, who committed adultery with David.

Though it took many years, God was, is and will always be, faithful to His Word!

5. Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Why is the line not “pure”? Jesus came from a line of sinners. There are no perfect people, including His own earthly family. Man’s problem is sin; Jesus came to save sinners.

Jesus called Himself the Son of man, not the son of a man—thus saying that He was the son of mankind. He was human in part, but did not stoop to sin as did His ancestors.

Conclusion

Matthew attests to the fact of the virgin birth of Jesus. He had no earthly father. He fulfilled the prophecies (). He was God come in the flesh.

Conclusion

Jesus came from God. He was born of a line of sinners to save sinners. He was born of a virgin. He is the Son of God.

H. Lee Mason, Sermon Outlines for Evangelism, Sermon Outline Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1981), 8–9.