FOR THE KIDS. We do appreciate those that help in that ministry. We've got that set up where those that volunteer, they only do it once a month, so that they're not out of the worship services more than once a month for that. It's important to do that, and so anyhow, so sometimes if we don't have somebody to do a week, then it just isn't done, so that's just why we do it that way. Open your Bibles to Matthew 1 this morning, Matthew 1. I finished up in my devotions this week in Revelation. I went into Matthew 1 and just started reading this and thought, boy, there's just so much here that I want to bring out this morning. I'm already thinking about what to do a series on after I get done with my series I'm already doing, and I'm thinking about doing the Gospel of Matthew. I just love it. His letter really is setting forth as Jesus as the King and Messiah. All through the Gospel of Matthew, you see that highlighted. And I just would really love to tackle the Book of Matthew and just bring that out all the time throughout that. And so I'm really contemplating that already. So I pray about that, if that's what the Lord would have us to do. The title of our message this morning is going to be taken from the scriptures from verse 18, where it says, Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise. Our message isn't going to be necessarily about the manner of his birth, the nativity, if you would, but it's going to be more about who he is. about who he is, because that's what Matthew is setting forth here from the very beginning. And so we want to deal with that this morning. So let's read one verse, actually verse one, the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Let's pray. Father, help us this morning as we come unto your holy word. Help us, Lord, to bear out the things that you have for us today, and I pray that it would be a blessing and an encouragement to all of the people of faith here today. I pray that we would rejoice in who Christ is proclaimed to be here at the very beginning of Matthew. Father, I ask for your help, and I pray that we would rejoice in Christ, our King, and that we would surrender our hearts, our lives, unto His Lordship and rule in our life. In Jesus' name we pray, and amen. Now, I think during this season, I see it essential to make sure that, you know, we all of us think properly. Think properly about the birth of Christ. Really, no matter how you deal with Christmas in your life and your family, it is imperative that we all look at the birth of Christ, who he was, what happened from a biblical perspective. So today we're gonna deal with some things in this chapter, and Lord willing, next week we'll look at the wise men in chapter two. Though it wasn't at the birth of Christ, we're gonna look at some things there to really tie this message in with that one. And so we wanna do that next week, Lord willing. So as we said, the theme of the Gospel of Matthew is this, Jesus as King and Messiah. You can't miss that. He's introducing us from the very beginning, Jesus as the King of Kings. Matthew continually shows forth in this gospel how Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecies of the coming Messiah. There's a key phrase that you find, this is almost more like an introduction to the book of Matthew, I guess, but there's a phrase that you will find throughout all the book of Matthew is this, This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. That phrase is found some 16 times in the Gospel. It's found in chapter 1, a couple, three times in chapter 2. So Matthew is seeking to show Jesus as the rightful Messiah of Israel who is fulfilling the prophecies of O. So Matthew begins to show that Jesus was the Messiah by first of all giving His genealogy. Now most of the time when you read the Bible and you come to those genealogies, Sometimes we skim those, don't we? I know, I must confess, when I come to them, especially in the Old Testament, when there's three or four chapters of begats, I be gone. And I just, mentally, I just struggle with that. I kinda skim it and look for little nuggets there. If I was gonna do a study on somebody in the Bible and wanna see maybe their heritage, what family they come from, I might dig into that. But I'm just here to tell you, that's tough stuff. I get that. And I'm trusting the Lord's patience when I skim over that with my eyes. But anyhow, but there is something here, very much. Just like there's something in the other begottens in the Old Testament, there's always those nuggets in there, the things you discover. There's some things here that is really, really important. regarding the birth of this one called Jesus. And Matthew is setting it forth by giving us the genealogy. The genealogy is to prove that Jesus Christ is the son of David. You can't lose that, you need to get that. He's proving that Jesus is the son of David. Now this is no doubt that the main purpose, the main purpose, I think many things we get from a genealogy, is the main purpose of the genealogy of Christ and why it is given. Listen, the nativity of Christ doesn't matter if he's not the son of David. It doesn't matter if he's not the son of David. The manner of his birth doesn't matter if he's not the son of David. Matthew is setting it forth, he is the son of David. Matthew must prove the human heritage and genealogy of Jesus. And remember that Matthew's gospel is mainly written with a Jewish mindset. And so he needs to give genealogy because Jesus Christ needs to fulfill Him being the son of David. He's got to prove that. So Jesus is the son of David. Jesus is the kingly Messiah promised from David's royal line. We mentioned this in the adult class this morning, but in 2 Samuel 7, verse 12 and 13, God told David, He said this, When your days are fulfilled, and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will 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. The Jews were looking forward to that when the Messiah would come, sit on the throne of David. He would have to be, though, a son of David. Now the Jews to this day, they're still looking for that Messiah. And they actually think they've got a Messiah over there right now. But they're looking for a Messiah to come and to establish that kingdom on earth. Well, we already know who the Messiah is, and we're just waiting for him to come back. But they're looking for the Messiah too. They are gonna be really surprised though, when they find out it was Jesus all along. Now, so it was imperative that Matthew reveal that Jesus is the Son of David, the Christ, the Messiah. He must come forth as a descendant of David so He may sit upon the throne of David in Jerusalem and rule. So any time during Jesus' earthly ministry that He was called upon by others as the Son of David, you will find people sometimes that ruffled their feathers. Now, I think there's more reasons for that. I didn't even get into this, but in looking at all the times he's called the son of David and some of the things the Pharisees said to him. Now, we know the story of the birth of Christ in regards to he's born of a virgin, but I think word got out about the manner of the birth. There's a couple passages where the Pharisees seem to imply that they thought that Jesus was born of fornication. We're not going to get into that. But what would that mean if he was? Joseph, they knew, was the son of David. It would mean that he wasn't the son of David. That's what they wanted. They did not want him to be able to prove his heritage as the son of David. So it's imperative that Matthew does this. So anytime others were calling him the son of David, all right, that is getting underneath the Pharisees' skin because they know that the Messiah would be the son of David. And listen, he was a threat to their kingdom that they were very much enjoying ruling over the people. The Pharisees were vicious rulers and they did not like anyone. They said they were looking for the Messiah, okay, but I don't think they wanted the Messiah at all. They wanted to rule, they wanted to reign. He was a threat to their kingdom that they were seeking to run. We referred to this this morning too in the Sunday school class, but remember when Jesus came into Jerusalem riding on the donkey, how the people shouted, how they were excited, and what they were saying. Mark said that they said this, not Mark Miller, Mark the Gospel. Mark says that some said, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the kingdom of our father David. that comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest. And you go back and read that, boy, this really gets things ruffled up, okay, with the Pharisees. Matthew says, they said this, which they probably said both, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest. The Pharisees seen this as a threat to their rule and to their reign. in the spiritual realm at that time. And they would see it as blasphemy as well, because they did not believe that Jesus Christ was the son of David or the Messiah. So Matthew proves Jesus as the son of David before he even speaks of the man of his birth, because the man of his birth doesn't matter if he's not the son of David. So it matters who he is. Now, secondly, here's the second thing Matthew is doing. Matthew seeks to prove that Jesus is not only the Son of David, but that He is also divine, and that He is the Son of God. And Matthew sets that forth very well through the Gospels as well. Now, he does that by telling us of the virgin birth. The purpose of the story of the virgin birth is not just to teach us about a neat miracle. It's to teach us that Jesus is the Son of God. I don't want us to miss that. You read down from verse 18 down to verse 25. I want you to see this. When it says the birth of Christ was on this wise, when his mother Mary was a spouse of Joseph before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, they were considered as married in those days when they were spoused. They were considered, really, husband and wife, though they had not yet come together physically, was minded to put her away privately. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, what, thou son of David, fear not to take unto you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit, and she shall bring forth a son whom she shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled. Which was spoken by the Lord by the prophets, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with a child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall what? Call his name Emmanuel, right? Which being interpreted is what? God with us. We brush over this, and we don't think about what is Matthew doing? Jesus, the son of David, also he's the son of God, God manifested in the flesh. Then Joseph, of course, being raised from his sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took on him his wife, and knew her not, till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus." Listen, Mary did not die as a virgin when Jesus had brothers, okay? She's not the virgin Mary anymore. Now, with that said, though that wasn't really part of the message I started throwing out there, So we're going to come back to this genealogy, because there's some things I want to bring out about this still. But look at verse 16 and part of the genealogy, because we'd rush over this. Here's a nugget you would skip over, okay, in reading all this genealogy, just skip over it. We got all this begats right here, and Jacob, Joseph. You look up above all them begats, begats, right? Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who was called to Christ. What's missing there? A begat. There's a begat missing. That's pretty important. I mean, Matthew is showing this. Oh, this one begat this one, this one begat this one, this one begat this one. But when he gets to Jesus, Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus. There is no begotten here. So here's something we have to remember. Jesus is not the only son of David. Joseph is referred to as the son of David. Anyone down along through David's heritage would be called the son of David, right? But there's something different about this son of David. And that's what Matthew is setting forth. He's not just the son of David as he's claimed through his genealogy. He's also the Son of God. He is Emmanuel, God with us. So there were many who were son of David, but we have this added into it that Jesus was born as a virgin and as deity. Jesus is not begotten of Joseph. Jesus has this title, the only begotten of the Father. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. That's John 1.14, John 3.16. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. So when you count those begottens all that, at least let it be a reminder to you Jesus is the only begotten of the Father. Jesus did not come forth from Joseph into this earth. Jesus came forth from the Father in heaven into this earth. First John 4, 9 wonderfully tells us, in this the love of God was manifested toward us that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. Mary was simply the vehicle that God chose to use. Now this is sometimes I think missed when people think about the virgin birth. They just think about the miracle of the virgin birth, the miracle of the virgin birth. But this account is given not just simply so we can reminisce of the manner or the nativity of the birth of Christ. It is to mainly inform us that Jesus is not only the Son of David. He is the Son of God. And being God's Son, He's also God. One of the names that's given to Jesus by the angel, we read it, is Emmanuel, which we interpret as God with us. You see, Jesus could not be God in the flesh had He not been born of the Virgin. That's why this is set forth, to prove His deity, to prove who He was. We're having declared unto us who Jesus is when we read Matthew. And when we say that we believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, we are maybe not even thinking about it, but we are declaring a fulfillment of prophecy that he was born of a virgin, that he might be Emmanuel, God with us. To teach the virgin birth of Jesus was in no way to teach that we may worship or exalt Mary in any way, form or fashion, as we often see she is. It was that Jesus may be set forth as the Son of God, not begotten of man. So, from the very beginning, Jesus, by Matthew, is set forth as the Son of Man, or the Son of David, and He is the Son of God. Why? So that He might unite in one both God and man. Right? to unite God and man. In that one person, we have humanity. In that one person, we have divinity. Why? Because we, man, need to be united to God. And Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of that so that we men and women might now be united to God. Now I wanna go back to this human heritage of Christ for a little while because there's more to this story. more to this story when he's given this heritage of Christ and where he comes from, from the human side. Now Matthew does not give us every detail, every single generation that led up to the birth of Jesus. I remember I'd read this and I would see verse 17, which says 14 generations from occurring of Babylon to Christ, 14 generations between these events, and I would count up in between like his genealogy and say, well, there's not 14 there, there's not 14 there, there's not 14 there. That's not what he's doing there, okay? He's actually informing us that he didn't give us every detail. He's just saying there's 14 generations between each of these. And so when he says what he does about 14 generations, from Abraham to David, David to Babylon, and Babylon to Christ, he's acknowledging that his individual list is not comprehensive. He's acknowledging that for everybody that would know that to be true. But in this list, there's some things that I just love to think about, but I think we miss this so often. One is when you go back and you look at some of these characters, you find out that they really were characters. I mean, this is the lineage, the human heritage of Christ enlisted in this genealogy. If you go back and look at some of these men, you're like, you know like these were always great people but why do we have this? You go back and look at some of these men and you quickly realize they were not perfect citizens and they had their faults some of these men we know better than others some of them you read like I don't even know who is that guy you know you don't even know some are called heroes of the faith but they still had their faults as well some we may know very little about some are very obscure right And so we think about that regarding the men mentioned, but what I find very interesting, something that you don't find normally in genealogy, and especially Jewish genealogy, is that there are women listed in this. That's significant. I want to highlight this, that there are four women that are mentioned in this genealogy. First of all, in Matthew 1 and verse 3, you see this. You see the woman Tamar mentioned. Now, if you're familiar at all with the Old Testament, you know who Tamar is. Listen, this isn't good. She sold herself as a prostitute to her father-in-law Judah. This is the human heritage, all right? to her father-in-law Judah to bring forth Perez and Zerah. So in Christ's heritage, human heritage if you would, there is an offspring of a sexual encounter between Judah and his daughter-in-law. We see Rahab mentioned in verse five. She bears a title in the New Testament as Rahab the harlot. She was a Gentile prostitute for whom God took extraordinary measures to save from judgment and from her lifestyle of prostitution. So she also has a background of sexual immorality. Thirdly, we see Ruth mentioned in Matthew 1, 5. She wasn't Jewish at all. She was a Moab, as Rahab. She was a Gentile. Ruth is David's great-grandmother who was married to Boaz. So Jesus comes forth. His human heritage actually has Gentile blood, if you would. The fourth woman we see mentioned is Bathsheba. But it's like in referring to Bathsheba, he doesn't even say her name. In Matthew 1.6 it says, Who had been the wife of Uriah? So even bringing to light the nature of her sin right there. That's how she's remembered here in Matthew 1.6. So she was guilty of adultery with David. David guilty of adultery. David guilty of adultery with Bathsheba. And God judged David for that, chastised him for all of that. But yet through that same lineage of David and Bathsheba comes forth Christ. Now talk about God using and working through the wickedness and vileness of man to bring something good that fulfills His own purpose. There you go. It's amazing. It is a miracle far beyond, what I'm getting at, the virgin birth. The virgin birth is a great miracle. But the miracle doesn't start right there. All up and from Genesis 3 all the way up into Matthew, God is performing His miracles. He's preserving of the seed of David the Messiah that would come forth, even through all of the sexual immorality and degradation and sin and rebellion. God works through every bit of that. to eventually bring forth Jesus Christ, the son of David, from a virgin. It's a miracle indeed. Now, when we look at this background, it would do us well to go through and look at not just these women mentioned, but some of these men. But for the sake of time, we're not going to do that. But I think there's more to this than to just see the preserved heritage of Christ as it comes forth. When you look at the women, or when you look at some of these men that are mentioned, there's something that should register with us. We should begin to identify with some of them. Oh, that's, they're kind of like me. They're kind of like how I was. Some of them didn't live the sexual morality life, and I get that, and that might be you. Not even where you were at when the Lord saved you. But you're going to read through it and see these people, and you're going to connect. You're going to identify with some of them. And that's what I like about the genealogy. One of the things I like about genealogy is Jesus, through Matthew, when he writes, is identifying with sinners in his genealogy while retaining his purity. Jesus is identifying with sinners in his genealogy while at the same time retaining his purity. Jesus is a friend of sinners, but he's no sinner. He's born of a man, but he's not a sinner. He is God. And also it does exalt the miracle that Jesus was born of a virgin from a line of many who were not so godly regarding sexual purity. Now, so this account of human heritage exalts the grace of God. that He was bringing to this earth. Be thankful and rejoice this morning that Jesus Christ, the Son of David and the Son of God, came forth to save sinners, sinners of all kinds. Now this account of human heritage exalts the grace of Christ that He's bringing to this earth, and we should rejoice in that. But here's a good place to bring in the fact of another title that is given in verse 1. Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. Jesus, the son of Abraham. This brings in more of the spiritual element to it. Abraham is called what? The father of faith. But there's so much more to this than that. God told Abraham, and we think about this promise regarding the nation of Israel, okay? And you know I believe that. I believe that God's not done with the nation of Israel. I don't want to go through all that right now to prove that point. He's not done with the nation of Israel. We should always be Israel's friend, et cetera, et cetera. God's going to save them in the end. And a lot of them are gonna go through a lot of hard times, they're gonna die, but in the end, God's gonna preserve the nation of Israel, et cetera. We got that, all right? But listen, there's more to the story in the promise of Genesis 12, two and three, all right? The promise to Abraham from God was this. I will make you a great nation. All right, nation of Israel, we think about that. I will bless you and make your name great. And you shall be a blessing. and I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you, and in all families of the earth shall be blessed." You know, oftentimes we just look at that and we think about the practical applications of us as a nation, we need to stand with Israel, we need to be pro-Israel, all of that, and that is all true, all true. However, Jesus Himself is also the Son of Abraham. We're also brothers and sisters in Christ. Through Jesus and through adoption of the Spirit, we are spiritual Jews in that aspect. But through Jesus, all the tribes and nations of the earth have been blessed. Through Jesus, they've all been blessed. So there's an application to the earthly nation of Israel, but an even more application of Jesus Christ being a complete fulfillment as the Son of Abraham that blesses all those who bless Him. And if you curse Him, you're in trouble, right? So He's Jesus, meaning what? Jehovah is salvation. Jesus, what? Jehovah is salvation. That's what His name means. He's Jesus to Christ. He's the Messiah. He's the Son of David, the Son of Abraham, the Son of God, Emmanuel, God with us. We get that. Who is this man called Jesus? He's all of that. And then we have a grand introduction of not only who this is, but why is He here? Why is He here? We can't miss that in Matthew 1 as we have this account of his birth. Verse 21, to save his people from their sins. I wanna say it's the right way. If I say it the wrong way, forgive me. Hopefully you'll see my heart, okay? Without a doubt, there are many in this world, and I see it every time, this time of year, that celebrate, that seek to celebrate His birth while they remain in their sins. Can we not all agree with that, no matter where we're at? They've not repented, they've not believed upon Jesus for who He is, why He came and what He did at Calvary. And we can say the other side as well, there's some that may not celebrate His birth and they still remain in their sins. What matters for all eternity right now is not what you celebrate this time of year. I'm going to say this. But you need to see something in this. What matters right now, do you know who Jesus is? Do you know who He is? Do you know why He came? And do you know why He went to the cross? Have you trusted that He died on the cross of Calvary for your sins, the Son of God and the Son of Man to unite us unto God? That He is the mediator, the only advocate, the only way to the Father, not Mary. It's through Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. We all have different opinions about how to handle this time of year. And we all love each other. But I implore you to consider this morning who He is and why He came and have you trusted in Him and been saved from your sins. Don't miss that. I really believe that so many in this world and how the world handles this year, they're not talking about Jesus. They're not talking about why He came and His death. They died for sinners. Let's not forget that. Let's not forget that. You can watch shows, you can watch programs, see stuff on TV. So much about Christmas, so much about Christmas, but nothing about Jesus. Nothing about Jesus. Folks, he came to die for sinners. He's a son of God, a son of man, a son of David, a son of Abraham, Emmanuel, God with us. That's who died in our place to set us free from the bondage of sin so that one day, one day we as his people will rule and reign with him as he sits on the throne of David. I'm looking forward to that day, aren't you? Let's pray. Father in heaven, I pray that you would use this to remind us, Lord, of who Christ is. Help us, Father, I pray, to point lost people to you. Help us to point people to you and why you truly came to this earth, that you came to save your people from your sins. Lord, help us to remember that, that you came to save us from our sins. not to save us and to leave us in our sins, but to save us from the power of sin, to save us from the penalty of sin, and one day to ultimately save us from the very presence of sin. We look forward to that day when Jesus Christ will come again, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham, Emmanuel, the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Prince of peace. We're looking so forward to His rule and reign. And we pray today, even so come, Lord Jesus. And amen. Let's all stand, please, as we sing.