The Wretched and the Righteous

The Wretched and the Righteous The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Matthew 1:1 We return to this verse to consider the import of these words once more. Last we spoke of the newness of this gospel, that it is a second genesis, a beginning of a new day, now we look to consider the subsequent progression of names, all forty two of them, which lead us to Christ. In them we find a list of covenant kings, those of Abraham's descent, and those of David's lineage, men and woman of famed reputation, who were chosen patriarchs, kings, and brides of two sort: the wretched but the righteous. Observe: 1. The annals of the wretched royal line. We have the incestuous. We have the murderous. We have the idolatrous. We have the fornicators. We have the adulterers. We have the covetous. We have the thieving supplanters. We have prostitutes and those guilty of fratricide, the polygamists and the ingrates, liars and deceivers, Moabites and Canaanites, persecutors of prophets, and even one so wicked he even brought his own children to be sacrificed in the fire. This is a sordid and horrifying lot, not a single name unstained by some of the foulest of crimes. This is the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Further, observe: 2. The annals of the righteous royal line. Each of these names are especial, royal, comprising a remarkable heritage of notable men and women, all of them extraordinary in their own way. There is the most remarkable of them all, Abraham, the covenant father of all the Hebrews, who believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. There is the most celebrated of all kings, David, who was said to be a man after God's own heart. There is Jacob, also called Israel, because he struggled with God and prevailed, who having seen God face to face, would not let the angel depart until He blessed him. There is Phares, the one called breach, who wore a scarlet thread upon his wrist, born the seed of promise when all hope seemed lost. And there is Tamar his mother, of whom Judah once said, "She is more righteous than I." There is the king Hezekiah, who brought reformation to Judah, who withstood the Rabshakeh, of whom God extended his years seven-fold. There is the woman that hid the men sent of the Lord to spy out the land, whose home stood when the walls of Jericho fell. There is the redeemed Moabitess, who with Naomi had the prized privilege of being blessed to birth the father, whose father, would bring forth David. This is the lineage of regal champions of faith, who withstood giants, forsook their homes and homelands, and stood firm when all others denounced the Lord. These are they who by imputation were to be declared righteous in this coming Messiah, their Son, yet their Lord. In this genealogy the gospel is found, it is preached, as Matthew teaches us: Doctrine. In Christ, all His people are of a royal line, who are at once sinners, but declared righteous. It is heaven itself that in this chapter will, by the dictates of an angel, have this Jesus, the last but the first in this, a continuing royal lineage, named Jesus, because, "He will save His people from their sins." This is the genealogy of the reprobate, but the righteous, the accursed, but the redeemed, the adversarial, but the beloved, it is the genealogy of Adam's condemned children, but also the genealogy of the elect, who are those ever known by this phrase, simul justus et peccator, as those at once sinners, at once just. As Luther put it, "Simul Justus et Peccator." Simul is the word from which we get the English word simultaneously. Or, it means 'at the same time.' Justus is the Latin word for just or righteous. And you all know what et is. You remember in the death scene of Caesar after he's been stabbed by Brutus he says, "Et tu, Brute?" Then fall Caesar. And you too Brutus? It simply means And. Peccator means sinner. And so, with this formula, Luther was saying in our justification we are one and the same time righteous, or at once declared just, and yet sinners. Now if he would say that we are at the same time and in the same relationship just and sinners that would be a contradiction in terms. But that's not what he was saying. He was saying from one perspective, in one sense, we are just. In another sense, from a different perspective, we are sinners; and how he defines that is simple. In and of ourselves, under the analysis of God's scrutiny, we still have sin; we're still sinners. But, by imputation and by faith in Jesus Christ, whose righteousness is now transferred to our account, then we are considered just or righteous. This is the very heart of the gospel. at the heart of the gospel is a double-imputation. My sin is imputed to Jesus. His righteousness is imputed to me. And in this two-fold transaction we see that God, Who does not negotiate sin, Who doesn't compromise His own integrity with our salvation, but rather punishes sin fully and really after it has been imputed to Jesus, retains His own righteousness, and so He is both just and the justifier, as the apostle tells us here. So my sin goes to Jesus, His righteousness comes to me in the sight of God. Matthew's book is titled a gospel and that it is; it is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Matthew has begun his genesis with the gospel, or as Calvin says, "It was the design of God to show that, in establishing this kingdom, nothing depended on human merits." What is the gospel? It is this: I. We are at once sinners. Everyone in Christ's line are sinners; wretched, condemned, vile, idolatrous sinners, who in Adam are born in bondage to death and sin, guilty, vile, the enemies of God, as Paul says, All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So, we, just as all these, are slaves to sin, children of wrath, condemned enemies of God. How can the sinful be declared righteous? John tells us, As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. How is this that these as all in Christ could ever be declared righteous. Let us answer this question first by saying how we were not made righteous. We were not made righteous of our own doing. As John says, we, Were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. It was not we that chose Christ, but He that chose us. Like those of this genealogy, it was not their bloodlines, their works of righteousness, or their exercise of their wills that made them righteous. We do not work for righteousness, we do not inherit righteousness, and we do not choose righteousness unto life: it is not by our choice, but God who saves us by grace through faith alone. David did not choose to be king; he was chosen of God. Abraham did not choose to leave Ur; he was effectually called out from it. Noah did not build an Ark of his own free will; he found first grace in the eyes of God, who gave him the means to salvation. Salvation is by grace alone, has always been by grace through faith alone, and has never been of our own doing. Righteousness is only by the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone. Now we inquire how it is that we are declared righteous. II. We are at once declared righteous. Those of Christ's heritage did not obtain to righteousness; it was not by their seeking God that they were declared righteous, as Paul said, There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes. None of these sought their salvation, it was God that in Christ foreordained them to righteousness, loved from before the foundations of the world, called them in unrighteousness, and led them forth from bondage, sin, and death, from this unrighteous, accursed genealogy, to be declared the righteous lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ. So then, knowing that salvation comes not by our choice, not by our wills, not by our seeking God, let us inquire how this sordid lot became the celebrated line of the righteous: Inquiry: How did these become the righteous? Answer: First, by divine decree; they are the elect of God. Second, by the divine call, as by the word and Spirit they come. Third, by sovereign grace, which calls them from death to life, like Jesus said to Lazarus the dead man, "Lazarus, come forth." Third, by faith alone, as that given to those that are regenerate, so that they may lay hold of eternal life; that they might believe, and by believing, have life eternal. Last, by imputation, wherein God has pardoned all our sins, and accepts us as righteousness in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ, imputed to us, and received by faith alone. What then shall we say to these things? 1. For our humility let us not think of ourselves more highly than we ought. John Flavel said, "They that know God will be humble, and they that know themselves cannot be proud." Let us not for a moment think that any of these or of our own are any more commendable than others. We are all wretched, miserable, loathsome sinners, who, but by the grace of God, would engage in the most vile and odious practices on earth. Think otherwise? Have you not watched as holy saint Peter was rebuked like the Devil by Christ? Remember why? It was because Peter had the audacity to instruct the Lord in righteousness, as though he was worthy to sit upon the throne of divine decrees and order all things; it was when Jesus began to teach them, He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third days; and it was then that Peter took Jesus aside, And began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. Then Jesus said, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savors not the things that be of God, but those that be of men (Mt. 16: 23ff). This was the same Peter that when confronted by three witnesses for being a follower of Christ, He to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. This same Peter was thereafter rebuked by the humbled Pharisee Paul, who, Withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? Think not for a moment that there are any in the royal lineage of Christ that are not horrid, contemptable of sorts; backbiters, lawless and disobedient, ungodly sinners, unholy and profane, murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, manslayers, whoremongers, them that defile themselves with mankind, menstealers, liars, perjured persons, lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Let us not for a moment seek to deceive ourselves or others of this fact, that but by the grace of God, we would be, are, and will be nothing more than vile reprobates of the most contemptable sort. There is not a single righteous man or woman in the lineage of Christ, but for the righteousness of Christ alone, imputed to them by grace alone, who but by faith alone, stand in Christ before the Father as righteous. Pride was the chief enemy of Christ in His days on earth. The Pharisees, the religious legalists of formal religion were the principle inciters of Christ's wrath. How repulsive is our pride. On a visit to the Beethoven museum in Bonn, a young American student became fascinated by the piano on which Beethoven had composed some of his greatest works. She asked the museum guard if she could play a few bars on it; she accompanied the request with a lavish tip, and the guard agreed. The girl went to the piano and tinkled out the opening of the Moonlight Sonata. As she was leaving she said to the guard, "I suppose all the great pianist who come here want to play on that piano." The guard shook his head. "Padarewski [the famed Polish pianist] was here a few years ago and he said he wasn't worthy to touch it." One of the most deadly of viruses to true religion is legalism and pharisaical pride. We must ever be left limping before Christ, never willing to touch the piano of His glory, never willing but to bow before His name. So, what can we say to this? Who can boast? Who can pompously put forth their goodness or their deeds as worthy of praise? Who can demand recompense and applause? Who can seek honor and homage from others for their accomplishments? Who is it that at any time or in any given circumstance can argue for their rights, their worthiness, and their due recompense? This is what Paul taught those disputants in Philippi, saying, Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Teaching us, Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world. We who have been forgiven the unforgivable, how can we ever but forgive? We who have been judged by another's mercy and righteousness, how can we ever sit in judgment of another? See how vile, reprehensible, and shameful it is for a Christian to ever be but humble, forgiving, and content in all things. Did not Joseph, when faced with the opportunity to recompense his brothers for their hateful crimes, say, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life (Gn. 45.4). Christian, today, let us aver to walk humbly, upright, knowing, how shall we that have died to sin live any longer therein, and let us, love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself (Mt. 22.36ff). 2. For our emboldening let us think of ourselves mores highly than we ought. You are a child of the King! Your righteous in the eyes of the Father. You are loved eternally. There is nothing that can separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Who can lay any charge to God's elect? It is God that justifies, Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Imagine how the man that was blind from birth went forth to live his life, as a man that could see. Image how Lazarus went to live once freed from the grave, as one made alive. Imagine how the man in the tombs that in the day and night ran about naked cutting himself lived from that day forward once he was restored to mind. Imagine how that bloody woman lived once the bloodlettings stopped. Imagine how the lepers lived once their skin was made pure. Imagine how the condemned lived once their pardons were sure. O let us live bold in Christ. Free from the grave. Free from the stain of our bloody issue. Free from blindness. Free from madness. Free from opposition to our Lord. Perhaps the best example for us is the apostle Paul. Once he was a proud man. Once he was an honorable man. Once he was a man that demanded honor and homage. Once he was a man that was worthy of all praise. Once he was a self-righteous, pompous, religious zealot, who demanded the awe and praise of others. Once he was a ruthless hater of Christ and His people. But then Jesus arrested him, then Jesus laid him low, then Jesus stripped him of all his fame and presumed worthiness and stood above him to strike him low. At that moment all his worthiness was lost, all his deeds were as filthy rags, he was as Joshua the high priest, clothed in filthy garments before the high and righteous throne of God above. Saul of Tarsus was slain by the word of the risen Lord, only to be raised in newness of life as Paul the apostle. Paul knew now who and what he was, he was the chief of sinners. As Paul tells Timothy, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. This is the lesson Paul the apostle learned, the lesson the pompous Pharisee Saul never knew; he knew that before the throne of God Christ is our all in all and we are naught. Christian, the lesson of Matthew today is this, which Isaiah said best, We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities. Learn this lesson and you will then rightly learn to say, But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen. We shall never praise the Father aright, until we learn to humble ourselves first. Only the truly humble can live boldly in this life. Only those of imputed righteousness can ever live free from the terrors of the law and of conscience. Want to live a joyful, honorable life? Only the poor in spirit, only the meek, only those that hunger and thirst after righteousness, only the pure in heart, only the peacemakers, only the merciful, only those of the kingdom of heaven, who stand righteous in Christ alone shall ever live a life of praise. Learn the lesson of the Psalmist well Christian, learn to say, Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake (Ps. 115.1). As we move forward into Matthew, into a new Genesis, a new Creation and new race of the righteous, as we enter a new kingdom and glory, to serve the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, let us learn this lesson well; we are but vile sinners, saved by grace, said this we well, simul Justus et peccator, those that are of a glorious and noble pedigree, the elect children of the living God, A chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; called to bring forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. strangers and pilgrims, those of the most noble heritage and generation of all, those born of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham, born of God. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.