The Gracious King

It is, as always, a distinct privilege to be here this morning with the opportunity to walk through the Word of God together as a church.

There is a lot of excitement in the air! Decorations are up, gifts are being purchased. We’re gearing up for a big souper Sunday next week! There have already been some Christmas parties, with others on the docket. Unlike the house in the Night before Christmas, many a creatures are stirring all about. This morning we were graced by some wonderful Christmas music! These songs always bring a smile to my face. As we talked about last week, there is a direct connection between expressing joy and singing loud. So it was incredible to be a part of a group singing loud, proclaiming the coming of the Messiah through song.

This is a busy time, but it is a joyous time.

So, why then, if everything is moving and going, energy is high, smiles are big, why then would I choose to preach through a genealogy? Today, as I read earlier, we are going to be looking through Matthew’s presentation of the genealogy of Jesus. This genealogy walks from Jesus through Joseph all the way back to Abraham. We see that Abraham fathered Isaac, Isaac fathered Jacob, Jacob fathered Judah, and on and on and on and on. We see over forty different generations represented in this lineage.

If I'm being honest with you all this morning, it can absolutely be intimidating to try to read all of those names in such succession. So for all of our sakes, I’m not going to try to read through the whole things again!

But today, as we are discussing the importance of this lineage, it is my prayer that you would be as captivated by the genealogy of Jesus as I was this week when preparing for this message. When you get over the hurdle of pronouncing every name, you will see the glorious purpose for which the Holy Spirit inspired Matthew, the tax collector turned disciple, to write this whole book and the necessity of beginning with this genealogy.

If you’d like, you can open to Matthew 1. But before we start working through the text, I want to expound upon why it important to study these genealogies. Two reasons.

Number one:

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.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, through the study of which we are equipped and built up in the faith to be ready for every good work. So the genealogy is important for the very simple fact that it is Scripture and all Scripture is beneficial to us.

Now, some people suggest that when Paul was writing this verse to Timothy that it would have only been referring to the Old Testament because the Bible had yet to be canonized as we know it today, but the letters of the apostles had already been making their rounds. The book of Matthew was written well before the book of 2 Timothy and the eye-witness account would have been circulated and accepted by the churches that were able to see it. Furthermore, in the book of 2 Peter, Peter refers to Pauls letters as Scripture. This means that the apostolic writings were seen on the same level as the Old Testament texts and thus what we receive from Matthew should be regarded as profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness.

So the genealogy is important for us to study because it is breathed out by God, that is written under the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It has inherent value due to the fact that it is Scripture. But this genealogy is important for another distinct reason that will serve as the overarching theme of our message this morning.

Let’s go over some Bible basics. There are four gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Each of these four books look at the life, ministry, death, and resurrection, of Jesus Christ. There are many stories that overlap between the gospels. There are also differences. These differences are not contradictory, rather they compliment one another. You see each author, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are telling of the life of Jesus from difference perspective. They are also focusing on different themes. Do not get this twisted, the fact that there are different themes in the gospels do not mean that they are contradictory! I cannot repeat this enough. Just because they hone in on different details, it does not mean that they cancel one another out. In fact it is a great grace that we get these four perspectives on the Life of Jesus, because it allows us to see the fullness of who He is. For instance, in the book of John and the epistles like 1 John that we looked at just a few weeks ago, John focuses on the deity of Jesus. He shows us Jesus, the Son of God. Luke focusses greatly on the humanity of Jesus showing Him as the Son of Man. That is what Luke’s genealogy connects Jesus all the way back to the original man, Adam.

Here’s the thing we must know Jesus is BOTH the Son of God and the Son of Man. Jesus is fully God and fully Man. How that works out can remain a mystery to us on this side of glory, but the fullness of God’s Word declares as much. Jesus is the Son of God and Son of Man.

In Mark, the shortest of the gospels, Jesus is shown as the servant. And in the book of Matthew Jesus is presented as the Sovereign, The King. The wonderful thing about Jesus is that He is both Sovereign and servant. King and helper. Each of the gospels point out these complimentary aspects of Jesus as King, Servant, Son of Man, Son of God. And genealogies in each of them help explain this function of Jesus. But you might say, Brad, there is no genealogy in Mark or John. Well Mark presents Jesus as the servant, and a servant’s lineage is considered irrelevant. And John, as we see in our Scripture proclamation for this month, does include a genealogy of sorts.

John 1:1 ESV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

This is a divine genealogy pointing out the eternal nature of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the Son of God, the Son of Man, the willing servant, and as we are focussed on here in Matthew: The gracious King.

Look with me at verse one.

Matthew 1:1 ESV

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

In this very simple statement Matthew speaks with a round purpose. He is writing of this man named Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus’ last name, despite modern perception, was not actually Christ. So when Matthew says “the genealogy of Jesus Christ,” this is a much bigger statement than saying “the genealogy of Charlie Davis.” The word Christ, in Greek Christos, means the anointed one! Now let me ask you a question. For what roles were people in that day anointed?? In Scripture there are three primary roles someone is anointed into, prophet, priest, and … KING! Now Jesus, being the anointed one, would fulfill all of these roles in His ministry, but there is a definite connection to the Kingship of Jesus when we read later on in the verse that Jesus Christ is called the son of David.

But before we start looking at any of that, I need all of us to understand just how big of a deal it is that Jesus Christ is the Christ! We see those words together so much that they lose impact on us. Those receiving the gospel of Matthew would think it very audacious for someone to be called the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed one.

So Matthew here comes out the gate here swinging. He’s saying this man, Jesus, is the Messiah that all the Jews had been looking for. He’s the Son of David. He’s the Son of Abraham. All of the Jewish readers would have understood exactly who those were and the claim that He is the Christ could only be proven through proving Jesus’ connection to those two guys.

That is why this genealogy is so important. It shows the connection of Jesus to the promise of God to build a great nation. It shows the connection of Jesus to the king who’s heir would reign forever. The Jewish people had been looking for that promise to be fulfilled. Through the lineage we read today, Matthew legitimizes Jesus as being that very promised king.

Folks, this is a big deal. These aren’t just a list of arbitrary names given to us as a fun tongue twister. Through this list of names were are shown the faithfulness of God to keep His promise and give us a Savior!

Man, the Word of God is good for the soul!

There are those that doubt that Jesus is who Christians claim He is. This is nothing new. Even in His day, Jesus was met by many people who denied that He could be who He said He was. So Matthew uses this genealogy to establish and legitimize Jesus’ royal lineage. It’s not necessary to know everything about every single person listed in those 17 verses. The main point is to simply establish that Jesus is the rightful heir. When it comes to royalty, bloodlines are a big deal. Right now when the Queen of England dies, Prince Charles would take over as the monarch. Should he be unable to do that, Prince William would take the spot, and that continues all the way through the family tree until you get Zenouska Mowatt who is currently 63rd in line to be the next king or queen of England.

Bloodlines are important in royalty, but they were also important to the Jewish people. Last week we looked briefly at the Nehemiah. If you remember that is the time when the Israelite people were enabled to rebuild Jerusalem. Throughout the process, many of the exiles were gathered back to their land, together for the first time in a long time. As Nehemiah was overseeing the rebuilding of the temple, God put it upon his heart to assemble to officials. There were only certain people allowed to do certain things. The Levites were given charge of the temple service. But many of the families couldn’t prove their heritage. So look at what happens:

Nehemiah 7:64 ESV

These sought their registration among those enrolled in the genealogies, but it was not found there, so they were excluded from the priesthood as unclean.

They were unable to prove their lineage and so they were kept out from the service of the priesthood. All of this is important to the genealogy of Jesus because it proves his connection to the promises God gave.

While the overall point of the genealogy is to prove Jesus’ legitimacy as the Messiah, we can also learn much from the people included in this lineage. As we look through some of the details included we will see that not only is Jesus the anointed King, but He is the gracious King sent by the gracious Father.

Let’s look at three expressions of God’s grace seen in the lineage of Jesus.

1. God’s grace in two men.

Matthew 1:1 ESV

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Here we see Jesus called the Son of David and the Son of Abraham. These are two of the most well known people from the Old Testament. God did great things through them! But do you know what they both had in common? They were both sinners. They were both BIG time sinners. And yet, despite the fact that they both majorly fell short of the glory of God, by that same God’s grace they were used to bring the Messiah to this earth!

Abraham was a man of great faith. He was willing to sacrifice his only son to God, but was spared from having to do so. And yet, that same man lied twice about his wife. He dishonored her and sinned by this lie. He allowed to pagan kings to believe that Sarah was his sister instead of his wife because despite all of his faith, he in those moments lacked trust in God.

But even still God made promises to Abraham that God would bless him and create a mighty nation from him.

Genesis 17:1–6 ESV

When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you.

Abraham was blessed by a gracious God. You would think that after receiving such a promise, that Abrahams focus would be dialed in and he wouldn’t continue to sin. However, as I mentioned Abtahat lying about his wife, one of those times was just a couple chapters before this promise and the other time was a few chapters after receiving this promise. What does this mean for us? Does this mean that when we receive the promise of salvation that we should willfully continue on in sin? Absolutely not. It means that the gracious God is faithful even when we are not. If you truly believe that you are saved and yet sin means nothing to you. You can just continue on in something with no desire to repent, then you haven’t truly understood the grace of God and what it means to be reconciled unto Him. Being restored to the Father through faith in the Son transforms our understanding of sin, we see it for the poison it is. Sometimes we fall to temptation, but in His great grace King Jesus covered the price of those sins with His blood on the cross.

Abraham was a sinner who received the grace of God. King David was also a sinner who received the grace of God. David is known predominantly in pop culture from the time he used a rock and a sling to take down The giant Goliath. Culture has taken that story to me a that the little guy always has a shot against insurmountable odds. You hear it all the time during March Madness. Lehigh, the 15 seed, beats Duke, the 2 seed. David beats Goliath!

The lesson from the story of David and Goliath is actually that the battle belongs to the Lord, not that the little guy has a shot, but that’s not the focus of what were discussing this morning. Probably the second most known moment of David’s life is his sin! If you aren’t familiar with this story, after David enjoyed many years as a very successful king in Israel, he decided that this one particular season of war he was going to stay home. The troops had never lost a battle so what's it matter if he goes out with them or stays home. Well while he stays home he looks out the window of the palace and he sees a beautiful woman bathing on her roof. His lust takes over and he brings her up to the palace. They share a night of intimacy and some time later she lets David know that she is now pregnant. David, not wanting to have a scandal, brings her husband home from the battle field. Now her husband wasn’t just any old soldier he’s referred to as one of David’s mighty men. A special elevated rank in the army. David tries to convince Uriah, the soldier, to go home and lay with his wife so that when the baby comes they’ll just pretend like it is not David’s. But long story short, Uriah is an honorable man and he wont go to be with his wife while his men are at war. So David in his fury sends a letter with the instructions to put Uriah in the front of the battle and basically leave him there to die. So that happens. Uriah dies and David takes Bathsheba to be his wife. Nathan, a prophet, uses a story to show David that he is guilty of these terrible sins of adultery and murder. And then David responds to Nathan and says very soberly, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

David repents from that sin, but there are still consequences. David and Bathsheba lose that precious child. David is even remembered by this sin the genealogy we read this morning.

Matthew 1:6 ESV

and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah,

David’s sin made a lasting impact on his life. His faith and repentance did not make the consequences of that sin go away, however God, in His great Faithfulness and grace continued to work through David. God made a promise to David

2 Samuel 7:12–13 ESV

When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

this promise would not be fulfilled in Solomon, Reheboam, Abijah, or any of the other names listed in the Matthew genealogy, but it would be fulfilled in the King of kings and the Lord of Lords Jesus Christ. Thank God that He is faithful even when we are not!

The King is Gracious. We see that in working through David and Abraham.

But there are two more expressions of God’s grace I’d like to point out this morning.

2. God is gracious throughout History

Matthew 1:17 ESV

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.

Here we se that Matthew has divided the lineage into three distinct parts. Each of these parts are marked by God’s grace and faithfulness!

From Abraham to David we see the formation of nations. Israel is formed. The people went into Egypt, they were enslaved, but God delivered them, they were brought out. They were eventually given the promised land. They were often not faithful to God, they were not satisfied with the judges they had over them, so they asked for a king.

Saul would be the first King of Israel, but David was a man after God’s own heart. Despite his sin, David modeled true repentance and faith in the Lord. Israel was a blessed nation under the kingship of David. That blessing would extend through the reign of Solomon, but acceptance of sin and rejection of God began to sink in. This happens in that second era from verse 17, “from David to the deportation.” there would be glimmers of faith and focus on God but the time was mainly marked by worship to idols and disobedience. Even still, God kept the line going. His promise to David to establish the throne forever would not be forgotten.

Then we come to the third period. One commentary said, “from the deportation to Babylon to the time of Christ, was that of captivity, exile, frustration, and marking of time. Most of the men Matthew mentions in this period … are unknown to us from this list. It is a period shrouded largely in darkness and characterized largely by inconsequence. It was Israel’s Dark Ages.”

Yet even still, God preserved His people, preparing to bring the savior to them and through them! “The national genealogy of Jesus is one of mingled glory and pathos, heroism and disgrace, renown and obscurity. Israel rises, falls, stagnates, and finally rejects and crucifies the Messiah that God sent them. But God, in His infinite grace, yet seen His Messiah through them.”

There is one more expression of God’s grace I’d like to point out before we close:

3. Grace in Five Outcast Women

Throughout the genealogy of Jesus there are five women mentioned. This should draw our attention. These lineages would typically only have included the men of the house so their inclusion is a very intentional choice by Matthew.

Let’s run through these quickly:

Matthew 1:3 ESV

and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram,

Tamar. Tamar was a Canaanite who was married to Er. Er was Judah’s son. When he died Tamar had no son. The full story can be found in Genesis 38, but basically after a failed promise for Tamar to be given to Judah’s third son to have a child, she took it upon herself and tricked Judah into lying with her. She would then conceive a set of twins, Perez and Zerah by Judah. Despite the despicable acts of prostitution and incest, God’s grace was bestowed upon all parties involved in that they were included in the messianic line.

Also mentioned in the Lineage is Rahab and Ruth

Matthew 1:5 ESV

and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse,

Rahab was a gentile prostitute. God used her to work with the spy's from Israel when they were sent to check out Jericho. God spared her and her family and brought them into His people! She would marry Salmon and give birth to Boaz who is the great-grandfather of King David.

Ruth, mentioned in the same verse was also a gentile. She was a pagan Moabite by birth, but married an Israelite man who died at an early age, before they had any children. Instead of going back to her people, she was committed to Naomi, her Israelite mother-in-law and went with her back to Israel. There, God providentially showed her grace by showing her her kinsmen redeemer, Boaz.

The fourth outcast we have already discussed, Bathsheba

Matthew 1:6 ESV

and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah,

The wife of Uriah, bathsheba. Despite everything, “by God’s grace, Bathsheba became the wife if David, the mother of Solomon, and the ancestor of the Messiah.

The fifth and final outcast women mentioned in Matthew’s lineage of Jesus is Mary.

Matthew 1:16 ESV

and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

There is a lot of mythology surround Mary, but the truth is this. She was a sinner. She was as in need of Savior as you and I are today. She says as much in her prayer in luke.

Luke 1:46–47 ESV

And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

God is her savior! She was a sinner who relied on the Lord. She was blessed to carry the Messiah. She likely would’ve faced some social rejection for the timing of her pregnancy, but her focus was on the Lord and she was blessed.

So what do we take from all of this today. I hope that you have seen that the genealogy is more than just a list a names.

Here’s what you must know:

Jesus is the legitimate King of Kings and Lord of lords. He is the only one worthy of ruling our lives. When we call Him Christ, Savior, Lord, we are saying that we are fully submitted to Him. That means Christ first in all things. Can you truly say that today?

Because here's what I want to end on,

“If He has called sinners by grace to be His forefathers, should we be surprised when He calls them by grace to be His descendants? The King presented [in this lineage] is truly a King of Grace!”

And that grace can be extended to you by faith In that very King. We’re all sinners just like the people we talked about today. Maybe you’re guilty of some of the same things. Maybe its different. But God’s grace supersedes our sin. When our faith is in Jesus and we recognize Him as the King He truly is, our sin is forgiven. Jesus paid the price for that sin on the cross. All we can do is fall before Him in humbled appreciation for the work He has done. We are saved by faith in Him. Faith comes through hearing the Word of God. Know this, God’s word says if you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, you will be saved. We’re going to give you an opportunity to do that this morning. If you are being called by the Spirit to make such a profession, come down front during this next hymn of response. Don’t wasn't and don’t linger. The King is worthy of all honor and praise. Cone today.

Pray.