Every so often we see a photograph in the local paper. And it'll say five generations all gathered together here. Now all of my grandparents died when I was two and three. I barely knew them. Certainly didn't know my great-grandparents. Don't know the names off the top of my head of my great-great-grandparents. And most of us, at most, could trace our ancestry back maybe five generations. Maybe six generations. How about ten generations? How many can trace your ancestry back ten generations? Well a few can, but not very many. Particularly since we all came here from somewhere else. family histories. They get lost. They get destroyed in wars or famines. Or were simply regarded as unimportant in maybe perhaps most cultures. Or weren't even kept. But in the case of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, the Savior of the world, we have His ancestral records. all of them. At least 77 generations. Not 5, not 6, not 10. 77 generations all the way back to Adam. And Luke has recorded them here for us. Now I don't know how many of you had marked this passage, Luke 3.23 through 38 in your Bibles. And were anxiously looking forward to the Lord's day when we'd come to this genealogy. But we preach the whole counsel of God. And no, we're not going to spend a week on each single individual who's named here. Remember what Paul wrote to Timothy. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. And I trust this passage we will find profitable before we're done here this morning. So let's turn to Luke 3.23. When he began his ministry, Jesus himself was about 30 years of age, being as was supposed the son of Joseph. Son of Eli, Son of Methot, Son of Levi, Son of Melchi, Son of Yanai, Son of Joseph, Son of Mattathias, Son of Amos, Son of Nahum, Son of Hesli, son of Naggai, son of Maath, son of Mattathias, son of Samaen, son of Yosek, son of Yodah, son of Yoanon, son of Rasha, son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, son of Neri, the son of Melchi, son of Adai, the son of Kossam, The son of El-Madam, the son of Er, the son of Joshua, the son of Eleazar, the son of Urim, the son of Matat, the son of Levi, the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Yonam, the son of Eliakim, the son of Malaiah, the son of Manah, the son of Matathah, the son of Nathan, the son of David, the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nashon, the son of Aminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, son of Nahor, son of Serub, son of Rehu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, the son of Canaan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahaliel, the son of Cainan, the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God. Seventy-seven names. Christ back to Adam. Now the words that we read here in this passage this morning were likely drawn from some historical records that were then existing in the first century. But they are inspired by God the Holy Spirit. Luke was inspired by the Holy Spirit to set this down. And so they are indeed profitable. And the first thing we might notice in this genealogy is the place where Luke includes it in his gospel. And I want to go back, because right now he's between the baptism of Jesus and the temptation of Jesus. The first four verses of this gospel, which Luke was writing to Theophilus, a non-Jew, He wrote that his objective was to investigate everything carefully and write it down. All those things accomplished among us by the Son of God made flesh. So Luke began with what? With visits of an angel named Gabriel. First to Zacharias and then to Mary. And Gabriel foretold of two miraculous conceptions and the births that would follow. Those of John the Baptist and of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then Luke told his readers about the coming of the Holy Spirit and filling Zacharias, his wife Elizabeth, and then their son John while he was yet in his mother's womb. And then of the Holy Spirit coming upon Mary and conceiving in her the Savior of the world. And that's what this gospel is about. The gospels are not historical records, although we have a historical record here. The gospels are written by believers in Jesus Christ who are writing to tell people and call people to believe in Him. They have an agenda. Luke then recorded the prophecy, remember, spoken by Zacharias after the birth of his son. He would be the forerunner of Messiah. And then the songs of thanksgiving and worship. First from Elizabeth, then from Mary. And then the birth of our Lord in the most humble of possible conditions. And then more songs. A host of angels. And then Simeon and Anna in the temple. And then Luke told of an incident that happened at the Passover as it was ending in Jerusalem when Jesus was only 12 years old. This is the only incident of Jesus' childhood anywhere in the New Testament. And then Luke jumped ahead. We saw last Lord's Day 18 years as John the Baptist came into the wilderness baptizing. Calling the people to repent and to believe in the one who was coming, Jesus the Messiah. And then Luke wrote of Jesus coming to John to be baptized. And Luke, like the other gospel writers, recorded what was seen and heard when Jesus came up from the waters of baptism. And this was a critical moment in all of human history. Luke 321, when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized. And while he was praying, and this is the critical moment, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came out of heaven, You are my beloved Son. In You I am well pleased. My favor is upon You. So Christ is anointed at that point. And it's time now for His ministry to begin. So we might expect that as Luke is setting forth the progression of Jesus' earthly life and ministry, he'd tell his readers what happened after Jesus' baptism. And he will. But first, and at this very point, Luke sets forth in detail the human genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God. He begins with the Son of God, Adam, and ends with the Son of God, the second Adam, Jesus Christ. Now, Luke actually had access to this information. How is that? Well, throughout their history, the Jews kept detailed records of their history, of their ancestry. Things we don't do today. Maybe people now look back, but it's a real struggle to look back even 100, 200 years into our ancestry. But not back then. Not for Israel. People born nearly 2,000 years after the sons of Jacob could trace their ancestry back to whichever son they had descended from. We find genealogies throughout the Old Testament. We don't think about it a lot maybe, but in Genesis 5 is the genealogy from Adam to Noah. And Luke has used that very same genealogy here. And then in Genesis 10 is a genealogy coming forward from the three sons of Noah into the 70 families of the earth. Then we look to the first nine chapters of 1 Chronicles, which Wendy happens to be reading in this morning. They're comprised entirely of genealogies. Genealogy of Adam to Jacob, and then the genealogies of the sons of Jacob. Nine chapters of genealogies in 1 Chronicles. And Luke's is not the only genealogy in the Gospels. As we know, Matthew began his gospel with a human genealogy of Jesus. So as we come to Luke's genealogy, the first question it seems that we are confronted with is this. Whose genealogy is this? Is this Joseph's? Or is it Mary's? Well, I can testify that to try and arrive at an answer with any certainty can be a dizzying experience. Over the centuries, brilliant minds, wholly devoted to the gospel of Jesus Christ, have been unable to settle this matter. Now if you've got a study Bible, you've probably got some note there that says it's this or that. May be right, may not be. But the same thing is true of Matthew's genealogy. There's come to be in the last 500 years a majority view, perhaps, that Matthew's is the genealogy through Joseph, the royal line, the kingly line, the legal line. And that Luke's is through Mary, the bloodline of Jesus. I went back and checked when I preached through the Gospel of Matthew. And studied this matter at that time. And I suggested that perhaps the best answer is that one is Joseph's line through his father. And the other is Joseph's line through his mother. Why that conclusion? Because Mary isn't even mentioned in this line here. Jews didn't trace genealogies of females through the female line, but through the males. And Luke doesn't mention Mary here in his genealogy. That view that Luke recorded Mary's genealogy was really pretty much unknown in the church for 1,500 years, until about the time America was discovered. And not only that, as far as the Jews were concerned, under the Jewish law, what mattered was heirship. Are you the legal heir of the mother or the father? Well, the father. That's what counted among the Jews. Jesus was the legal heir of Joseph. And then here, Luke, it can certainly be argued that in chapter 1, verse 27, and then clearly in chapter 2, verse 4, Luke calls attention to the Davidic descent, not of Mary, but of Joseph. So there's reason to believe that the genealogy he inserts in this book is also that of Joseph. Who can guess what the next words I'm going to say are? Anybody who said, on the other hand, Those who propose Luke presents the ancestry of Mary point out, this has to be Mary's line. Because it was necessary that Jesus be a blood descendant of David. That could only happen through Mary. Couldn't happen through Joseph. And if that's true, and I'm fast becoming persuaded it almost has to be, then verse 23 should read, and this is a possible rendering of verse 23. Jesus himself, supposedly Joseph's son, was about 30 years old when he began his ministry, he Jesus being a son of Eli. Again, we're not going to settle this. I thought I'd share with you what I've been through for the last three or four days though in trying to resolve this. But when we look at Genesis 5 and Genesis 10, we have the line from Adam to Noah. And we notice Luke's genealogy tracks, I believe, exactly with what's set forth in Genesis. And Luke's line and that of Matthew are identical from Abraham to David. Okay? But after David, they're almost entirely different. One line proceeding through David's son, Nathan, In one line, the line of kings and those who would have been king had there not been an end of the kingdom through his son Solomon. Now, I think we understand Matthew was writing to Jews to persuade them Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. He begins his gospel, the son of David, the son of Abraham, the Messiah. This is the genealogy of the Messiah. And he had to be a son of David. And so, Matthew traced his ancestry back to David through Solomon to establish Jesus in the line of kings and rightful heir to the throne. We're going to look at those passages in a moment. Luke, on the other hand, seems to have been establishing a bloodline of Jesus, that he was a blood descendant of David through Nathan. Now, Matthew's list which runs from Abraham to Jesus. Now remember, Luke's goes back all the way to Adam. So Matthew's list is naturally shorter for that reason, but it's also shorter for another reason. Matthew's genealogy contains 42 names. Three groups of 14. Luke's contains 77 names. But not only that, Matthew skips more generations than does Luke. There is generation skipping here. One comparison we see, for example, from David to Shealtiel, the father of Zerubbabel, who led the exiles back. Matthew contains 16 names. But Luke, over that same period, contains 22. Between Shealtiel and Jesus, Matthew has 13 names. Luke has 22 again. So Luke's is more complete. That additional number in Luke isn't all that strange. He's got a different point he's making. Everyone in a line doesn't necessarily become king. So the number of persons in the bloodline, the natural descent, it would be normal for that to be greater than those in the royal line. And they both chose to pass by some names. One other thing. We also notice Matthew, and it's not a big point, but he starts with Abraham and comes forward. While Luke begins with Joseph and works backward all the way to Adam. So look at verse 23. And this is how I think we should read it. Jesus himself, supposedly Joseph's son, was about 30 years of age when he began his ministry, being a son of Heli. Thirty years of age. Now for those familiar with the Old Testament, as we all, I trust, are, this should not be surprising. Genesis 41-46, it was at the age of 30 that Joseph became prime minister of Egypt. In Numbers 4-47, God commanded that Levites would begin their service at age 30. Second Samuel 5-4, what age was David when he became king? He was 30. That doesn't prove anything. But it's not strange, therefore, that Jesus began His ministry. And so did John the Baptist at that age. So now we're back to our question. Why did Luke insert this genealogy at this point? It's after his baptism and before his being tempted in the wilderness by Satan. We have three things. Baptism, ancestry, temptation. What do they all have in common? Well at His baptism, Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit and declared to be the Son of God. In His temptation, Jesus would not sin. And so He was established as a sinless offering. for sin, one who could be offered as an unblemished offering. And in this genealogy, he is shown to be a direct descendant of King David, a rightful heir to the throne. All three of these are messianic credentials. Son of David, sinless, and the Son of God, anointed by the Spirit of God. And here, not only that, but Luke sets forth his human origin to show Jesus to be not some mythical God like the pagans would have had, but to be a real man with roots back through David, and Abraham, and Noah, and Adam. He is the Son of God, and He is the Son of Man. Now Matthew wrote to a predominantly Jewish audience to show them Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah. Look at Matthew 1.1. I mentioned it earlier. But the record of the genealogy of Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. Do you think Matthew had a point he was trying to make? He sure did. So he traced back through King David all the way to Abraham. Remember, the Jews knew the Messiah would have to be a son of David. And what happened on the day of Jesus' triumphal entry? What some today call Palm Sunday. He comes into Jerusalem. And what are they all saying? Hosanna to the Son of David. That's what that meant to them. Now Luke, on the other hand, was writing to a Greek man named Theophilus. And he was writing to demonstrate to Theophilus and a more universal audience that Jesus is the Savior of the world. People from every family and nation. And so he takes his ancestry all the way back to Adam, the first man. And remember, Adam is called here a son of God, but he's a son of God who fell. The second Adam would not fall. And that's what we'll see next Lord's Day when we look at the temptation. Remember what happened. Satan came and tempted Adam. Adam fell. Jesus has come now to reclaim that kingdom that Satan took over that day when mankind lost dominion over the earth. And Jesus comes back and Satan will tempt Him. We'll see how that works out next Lord's Day. To the Jews though, these ancestries, these genealogies were really important. Why? Well, for one thing, remember when they crossed into the promised land of Canaan, what did God do? He allotted each tribe a section of land. Ancestry determined, and that land stayed with that tribe, at least that was God's intent. Ancestry determines one claim to land based on that original allotment. back in the days of Joshua. One's ancestry also determined one's right to inheritance. And for example, only men from one tribe could be Levites or priests. You had to be from the tribe of Levi to be qualified to serve as a Levite or a priest. So how would anybody know unless they kept records? There had to be ancestral records proving one to be a descendant of Levi. On the other hand, the line of kings had to come from David. And these genealogies had to be, I believe, a matter of public record so that one's claim to an inheritance could be verified. Scripture's inspired by God, but that doesn't mean that the writers of Scripture do not make reference to things of this world in so doing. And so these records are included. You know, even when King Nebuchadnezzar came in 722, of course, the ten northern tribes fell. In 605, Nebuchadnezzar came and began to carry the sons of Jacob away to Babylon, into captivity. But you know what? They still kept these records. We have them right here. Even during the 400 silent years. And this is why we have a bunch of names we don't recognize. There were 400 silent years. But they kept the records. Here they are. Here's the ancestry of Jesus even during that time. Now when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, 70 A.D., guess what happened to the records? They're gone. All of them were destroyed. And certainly by the design of God. Jesus had said this was going to happen. Not one stone will be left upon another. Because the system of Judaism and that nation of Israel had served their purpose. Salvation was to come through the Jews, from the Jews, of the Jews. But all of that system, Hebrews 8.13, has been rendered obsolete. So today, the Jewish people can no longer trace their tribal lineage. That's right. But that's okay. Their way to salvation is faith in Jesus Christ, not to any tribal lineage. So our passage, Luke 23, we see the names of Jesus and Joseph. Take a look in your Bibles. And then you see the names of 18 men of whom we know absolutely nothing from Scripture. 400 silent years is the predominant reason here. But then, after those 18 names, we come to two names that are familiar to readers of Scripture. Zerubbabel and his father Shealtiel. These are the only two names that appear in both Luke's genealogy and that of Matthew coming forward from David. Now how is that? I don't know. I did not find anybody who had a satisfactory answer to that. But Zerubbabel is here both times. And we don't talk about him a lot when we gather. But he is a man who's very prominent in four books of the Old Testament. Two historical books, Ezra and Nehemiah, and in two books of the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah. And I thought, since we're here, and since we don't get much chance to talk about this I wanted to just kind of remind us what Scripture says about him and why maybe he's got this prominent role here. David's in both. Abraham's in both. Zerubbabel's in both. And Zerubbabel's in both because he was a central figure and leader in the return from the exile and in the rebuilding of the temple. I put in your Scripture sheet four passages from Haggai, Zechariah, and Nehemiah that speak of this man. And I wanted us to just look at them this morning. Just read them. Haggai 2-1, on the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel. the governor of Judah. So he's the governor when they come back. And to Joshua, the son of Jehoshadak, the high priest. And then in Haggai 2.23, on that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will take you, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, My servant, declares the Lord, and I will make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the Lord of hosts. See, I read that, I can't just skip over this man. On the one day we're going to come across him. Zechariah 4.9, the hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will finish it. And then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. And then finally, Nehemiah 1246. For in the days of David and Asaph, in ancient times, there were leaders of the singers. Songs of praise and songs of thanksgiving to God. So all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel And Nehemiah gave the portions due the singers and the gatekeepers, as each day required. And they set apart the consecrated portion for the Levites, and the Levites set apart the consecrated portion for the sons of Aaron." So this man was instrumental in reviving the worship of God in Israel. Well Joseph and Mary, meanwhile, knew their ancestry. They knew where they came from. They knew who their ancestors were. They knew that their family records went back to David. How do we know that? What happened here in Luke that reminds us of that? Well they came to Bethlehem, the city of David, to register in the census, being of the house of David. And not only Joseph and Mary, but the people, as we've noted, knew that the Messiah, the eternal King, would descend from David. Look at 2 Samuel, chapter 7, verse 12. Now, the Lord here in this prophecy speaks of both Solomon and the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's Nathan the prophet speaking to David. When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to Me. When he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men. that my lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Now clearly he's dealing with Solomon here. But then look at verse 16. Your house and your kingdom shall endure before me forever. Your throne shall be established forever. Now we come to Psalm 132 and we see this. The Lord has sworn to David looking back to that covenant. ...a truth from which he will not turn back, of the fruit of your body I will set upon your throne. If your sons will keep My covenant and My testimony, which I will teach them, their sons also shall sit upon your throne forever. Now that Jesus' ancestry goes back to David did not prove He was Messiah. But it did prove He met the qualifications for Messiah. As did His resisting temptation. As did His anointing by the Spirit, of which Isaiah had prophesied. And all of this is seen in something that I think is really significant. Do you realize in the New Testament, nobody ever comes up to Jesus and says, You're not a descendant of David. Of all the accusations they made against him, never was there a claim he was not a descendant of David. And whether he was a descendant of David or not could be easily verified or proven false by simply checking the records. And of course, what did they say? Hosanna to the Son of David. So here we are. We've got Joseph is not the natural father of Jesus. But we've got these genealogies that begin and end with Joseph. But as husband of Mary, he was the legal father of Jesus. That's not in question. And so through Joseph, through Joseph, Jesus received the legal right to the throne. But Mary is also a descendant of David. Jesus had the blood of David in His veins. So in both senses, He is a descendant of David. He can be king legally through Joseph, and He can be king through blood through Mary. So we work our way through these genealogies, and we're still left with many questions. That doesn't mean there aren't answers to these questions. It does mean we don't know the answers and God has chosen not to reveal them to us. Sometimes He does that. But the things He doesn't reveal, none of those things are necessary to our salvation, to the pardon of our sins. We know what's necessary to receive forgiveness of our sins. That's faith in our Lord's offering of Himself on the cross as the atonement for our sins and repentance. And there is one passage that all of the commentators seem to gravitate to. 1 Timothy 1.4 and Titus 3.9. Avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strifes and disputes about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. But I believe this genealogy is very profitable for us. Why does Luke provide it? And why in this specific place? Well, the answer really becomes clear. Luke is establishing the credentials of Jesus of Nazareth to be the Savior of the world. That's what he's doing. He sets it between the heavenly declaration that he's the Son of God sent from heaven by God. on the one side, and the wilderness temptations that proved His sinless character, which was also necessary if He were to offer Himself as the unblemished sacrifice for sins. Luke is showing us Jesus' credentials to be our Savior. And more than anything else, the longer I spent with this passage, the more I realized we see in this genealogy God's working out of His plan of redemption. Of a people for Himself, a people He had chosen in eternity past. From the fall of Adam and God's promise in the Garden of Eden, the seed of the woman will crush your head, Satan. To God's destruction of the world in the great flood, preserving Noah. What happens if he doesn't preserve Noah? Noah's in this line. Another ancestor of our Lord and his family to God's covenant with Abraham. In your seed, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. All of these are in this genealogy. And the son miraculously born to Abraham and Sarai. A barren couple, beyond childbearing age. And what did the Lord say? In Isaac your seed shall be called. God's creation of the people of Israel, of the sons of Jacob as a nation through whom Messiah would be born. It's all here. Jacob's son Judah, the patriarch of the tribe of kings, through whom the kings of Israel would come and through whom the eternal king would come. David, to whom God declared through his prophet, a descendant of his would sit on God's throne for how long? Forever and then some. and Zerubbabel who helped lead the remnant back from captivity in Babylon and rebuild the temple into which Jesus was presented to his father as an infant. God created that nation and God moved them to maintain his history. A record of the generations back to Adam to affirm for us His creation of Adam and to display His plan of redemption. I don't know what the evolutionists do with this. Here it is. Here's the whole history laid out. And here's God's whole plan of redemption right in front of us. Here God has provided future generations, including us, a record of His presence throughout human history among His created people. And in Jesus, the Messiah, all of redemptive history culminates. One writer says He's not just a good man. Not just a great teacher. Not merely a prophet, though He is a prophet. He's not only a priest, though He mediates for us, even now as our great high priest. He is the culmination of all of human history, not just the history of Israel. He's the fulfillment of God's plan of redemption and purpose. He's the hope of all humanity. In fact, He's the only hope. And we have His entire ancestry set before us. When the infant Jesus came to be presented to his heavenly father in the temple, what did Simeon prophesy? This child is destined for the rise and the fall of many in Israel. The eternal destiny of every man. Every man will rise or fall forever, for all eternity, depending on how he responds to Jesus Christ. He's the eternal Son of God. But Luke shows us here, He's also the Son of Man. A son of Adam. Hebrews 2.14, Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through His death He might render powerless him who had the power of death. Oh, what a great verse that is. that is the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. This was the work that lay ahead of him. For assuredly he doesn't give help to angels, but he gives help to a descendant of who? Of Abraham. of Abraham. So he had to be made like his brethren in all things, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest, to intercede, to be our mediator in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of his people. For since he himself was tempted in that which he suffered, he is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted. No, we don't have a high priest who can't sympathize with our weaknesses. No. We have one who's been tempted in all things, as we're going to see next Lord's Day. And yet, without sin. Well, I kept asking the Lord to show me what He wants us to see here. And I think it's this, when we look into any passage in Scripture, we meet God. And we meet Him in a grand way in these genealogies. This is His whole plan laid out. And sometimes the passage contains teaching as to how to live as the people of God. Paul does that quite a bit in a fallen world. In the Gospels and the Epistles, we learn of the coming of the Son of God into the fallen world. and we're called to believe in Him and to follow Him. And some passages, such as this genealogy of our Lord, included here by Luke in chapter 3 of his gospel, give us assurance and strengthen our faith in what we know to be true. Who could have done this but God? And here this morning, generation after generation, we see God's plan of redemption unfolding. Working out the plan that was always in His mind. Rescuing His people from darkness. Calling them into His kingdom through Noah, Abraham, David, Zerubbabel. and by His Son, and for His glory." Do you know how many people out there don't know any of these things? And yet here we are. And we know them. And we know them to be true. And God, in this passage, has provided us with that assurance. We are, of all people, most blessed, folks. Most blessed. And may we be ever grateful. Well Lord, we thank You that You have given us this Word. That You've preserved these things for us over the centuries, over the millennia. Lord, that You've provided these means of extending Your grace to us, of strengthening our faith, of giving us assurance, a certain expectation of glory. And Lord, we thank you for sending your Son to a wretched and undeserving people that he might gather us to himself. And Lord, please strengthen the faith of each one who hears this word this morning. And help us to grow nearer to you and more like you. In Christ's name.