Episode Transcript
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Listen, for this is the word
of the Lord, the book of the
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Genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son
of David, the son of Abraham.
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Abraham was the father of Isaac and
Isaac, the father of Jacob and Jacob,
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the father of Judah and his brothers
and Judah. The father of Perez
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and Zarah by Tamar and Peis,
the father of Hezron and Hezron, the
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father of Ram and Ram, the
father of Aminadab and Aminadab, the father
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of Nation Nation, the father of
Salmon and Salmon, the father of Boaz
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by Rehab and Boas, the father
of obed, by Ruth and obed,
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the father of Jesse and Jesse.
The father of David, the king,
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and David was the father of Solomon
by the wife of Uriah and Solomon,
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the father of Rahaboem and Rahaboem,
the father of Abijah and abide of the
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father of asuf and Aceef, the
father of Jehosaphat and Josephat, the father
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of Joram and Joram, the father
of Uzaiah and Uzaiah, the father of
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Jotham and Jotham, the father of
Ahas and Ahas, the father of Hezekiah
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and Hezekiah, the father of Manassa
and Manassa, the father of Amos and
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Amos, the father of Josiah and
Josiah, the father of Jechaniah and his
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brothers, at the time of the
deportation to Babylon and after the deportation to
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Babylon, Jaconia was the father of
Sheltiel and Sheltiel was the father of Zerubabelle
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and Zoubibil, the father of Abuyat, Abud and Abudd the father of Elk
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Aliyah, Kim and Ela him the
father of Azor and Az or, the
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father of Zadok Zadek, the father
of Akim and Akim, the father of
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Eliud and Elieu, the father of
Eliezar and Eliezar, the father of Mattan
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Mattan, the father of Jacob and
Jacob, the father of Joseph, the
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husband of Mary, of whom Jesus
was born, who is called the Christ.
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So all the generations, from Abraham
to David were fourteen generations, and
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from David to the deportation of Aab
to Babylon, fourteen generations, and from
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the deportation to Babylon to the Christ, fourteen generations. That's why the reading
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of God's word, may He bless
it to us, maybe seated. This
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is the kind of time of year, this is to the sort of season
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where it's traditional, perhaps in your
families, to go back and watch old
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movies, maybe the movies that you
grew up with, some classics, Black
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and white pictures. Perhaps. I'm
a big fan of movies and if you've
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noticed, if you go back and
watch some of these older films, there's
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a distinctively different style to how they
open. That may be lost if all
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you've seen are movies made in the
last twenty years or so. Right around
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twenty thirty years ago, there became
a big shift in how movies began.
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It used to be that when the
movie began, you might be unprepared for
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how boring they could start out.
Before your movie began, you would have
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to sit through about five to maybe
ten minutes of credits. Nowadays we put
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the credits at the end of the
movie when you're packing up ready to turn
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off the the DVD player whatever.
Back in the day they used to be
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right up front. If you're not
used to that, if you put on
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one of these old movies and realize
that you're forced to sit through five to
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ten minutes of just names of people
that you don't really know, names of
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people that you're not all that interested
in. You may feel a wave of
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boredom as you try and watch one
of these older films. Well, perhaps
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you felt a bit of that wave
of boredom hit you this morning as we
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read through this list of names at
the beginning here of Matthew's Gospel. Why
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Begin his Gospel with a list and
a list of names? What was he
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thinking? Doesn't he know you've got
to start your story with something compelling?
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Doesn't he know you've got to start
with with a bang? Write something excitement,
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something interesting? He starts with a
genealogy, a list of family names.
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But this list of names is actually
incredibly compelling. This list begins with
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an incredible bang. Did you hear
how it began? The book of the
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Genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son
of David, the son of Abraham,
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if you're familiar with your Old Testament, what matthew is saying here is astounding,
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its revolutionary. You see, we're
so used to the name Jesus Christ
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that the official title being used here
can often get get lost on US kids.
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Matthew is saying that Jesus is the
Christ meaning the anointed one, the
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Messiah. Do you realize, then, the years of anticipation that await this
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very phrase? Do you feel how
much weight these words carry, and they're
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the opening words of this Gospel,
in light of the hundreds, thousands of
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years that Israel has awaited this child? Matthew Declares Right from the beginning the
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weight is over. This Jesus is
the long awaited Messiah. This Jesus is
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that Royal Son promised to King David, this Jesus is that blessed son promised
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to Father Abra hand. Matthew is
the first book in the New Testament.
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So the New Testament begins with with
a genealogy, with with a list of
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names, and I want you to
see that this is incredibly appropriate, because
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this list tells you that this Gospel
is not a new story. These first
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words of the New Testament begin by
pointing backwards to Tell You that Matthew's Gospel
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is but a continuation. It's a
culmination of all that has come before.
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The old and the new testaments are
inseparably connected. The New Testament doesn't just
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arrive out of thin air. It's
not some unexpected twist. It's not the
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old testament part two, nor is
the New Testament God's second chance or some
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secondary plan. Now, as Isaiah, Forty six first ten, tells us,
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I am God and there is none
like me, declaring the end from
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the beginning and from ancient times,
the things not yet done, saying my
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counsel shall stand and I will accomplish
all my purpose. The old and new
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testaments of your Bible Tell One story. This is what it means to say
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that God is omniscient. To put
Isaiah's words another way, God cannot start
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something without seeing and declaring the end
from the beginning. For God, there
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is no such thing as an afterthought, a surprise, a correction in the
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omniscient mind and plan of God.
What Matthew tells us this morning is how
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God brings about his plan and his
purposes. This morning were shown how this
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story, which began at the beginning
of history itself, will take one more
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step towards its conclusion. The narrative
that began in a garden of Eden is
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coming to a close, and so
your New Testament begins with an old testament
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genealogy, so that we see that
we cannot fully understand the new without the
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old. And yet there is an
incredible shift that's taking place in our passage
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as we just read. It is
imminently connected to the Old Testament, but
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there's also something new going on in
this Gospel. And what makes it new
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is not simply that it occurs later
on in time. You See, what
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makes the new testament new is that
foundational shift which occurs when you go from
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shadows to the reality. Matthews describing
this incredible shift from from prophecy to fulfill
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it. It's the same kind of
shift that go that occurs when you go
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from an architectural blueprint to having the
building in place and on site. Is
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there an intimate connection between the blue
print and the building? Of course there
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is. Are they the same thing? Not at all. So look at
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the way in which Matthew looks backwards. Do you see how intimately connected his
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narrative is to the history of Israel
itself? He lists Jesus is lineage,
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is his genealogy. He wants us
to know who this Jesus is. He
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wants us to know this Jesus,
and this means knowing where he came from.
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That's how Matthew says in verse one
the Book of the Genealogy of Jesus
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Christ, the son of David,
the son of Abraham. This is not
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just a son, this is not
just a son of Abraham. Anyone who
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is Jewish could claim that lineage.
This is the son of Abraham. For
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you see, long ago the Lord
promised to Abraham, for instance in genesis
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twenty two, verse seventeen. I
will surely bless you, I will surely
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multiply your offspring as the stars of
Heaven and as the sand that is on
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the seashore. And your offspring shall
possess the gate of his Emmy's and in
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your offspring shall all the nations of
the Earth be blessed. And so who
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is this offspring of Abraham? Does
it refer to many descendants, descendants outnumbering
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the stars and on the sand,
or is it referring to one? Is
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it Isaac, or is it the
nation of Israel? I love it here
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that when Matthew Calls Jesus the Son
of Abraham, he's agreeing with what Paul
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says in glaciers, Chapter Three,
Verse Sixteen, where he says the promises
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were made to Abraham and to his
offspring. It does not say and to
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offsprings, referring to many, but
referring to one and to your offspring,
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as Paul says, who is Christ, the promised offspring of Abraham, has
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arrived in the birth of Jesus.
Now King David. King David was also
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given a promise regarding a son.
And Second Samuel Seven, verse twelve,
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I will raise up from your offspring
after you, who shall come from your
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body, and I will establish his
kingdom. He shall build a house for
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my name and I will establish the
throne of his kingdom forever. I will
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be to him a father and he
shall be to me a son. Do
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you hear a similar are kind of
ambiguity in that promise? Now, not
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with regard to the many or the
one offspring. Here the ambiguities regarding to
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to whose son the Lord is describing. On the one hand, he says,
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I will raise up your offspring,
who shall come from your body,
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but I will be to him a
father, he shall be to me a
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son. Do you hear attention in
those words? WHOSE SON is this?
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Is this is ultimately David's son,
or is it God's? Well, we
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know the answer to that it's both, and this is what's matthews genealogy is
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making clear. This is the son
of Abraham, this is the alongawaited son
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of David. And yet did you
notice a break in the pattern of this
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genealogy? The phrase gets kind of
monotonous as you read it and as you
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hear it, the phrase getting repeated
over and over. Is a the father
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be be the father of see,
so on and so forth, until you
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get to Joseph. When you get
to Joseph and Jesus, in Verse Sixteen,
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it does not say Joseph the father
of Jesus, it says Joseph,
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the husband of Mary, of whom
Jesus was born. And then verse eighteen
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and the rest of chapter one tells
us why, why there's this break in
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the phrasing of this genealogy. Joseph, the son of David, is told
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amazing things. His bride to be
will give birth to a son. His
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name shall be called Jesus, for
he will save his people from their sins,
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and the name Emmanuel, taken from
Isaiah's prophecy, is recalled, for
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that name means God with us.
This son of Abraham, this son of
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David, is also the son of
God, he has to be called Jesus,
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which means yahway saves. He had
to be called Jesus because of what
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he would do. And so the
tied to Jesus's identity, tied to his
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very name, is this task.
Even the name Jesus is tied not to
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his philosophy, not to his ethics, not to his teachings, but to
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his work. God Send Jesus into
this world for a very specific purpose,
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to save his people from their sin, and this becomes so evident to us
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when we read through this genealogy of
Jesus. We find great people in this
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list, but these same Greek great
people are also great sinners. Notice how
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certain names are include it in this
genealogy. In verse three, it describes
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Judah, the father of Peis and
Zerah, by Tamar. It references this
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mother as well. Tamar was his
daughter in law who posed as a prostitute
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to trick Judah into getting her pregnant. And then, notice we even went
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the Great King David is listed in
verse six. David was the father of
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Solomon, by WHO? By the
wife of Uriah. Bathsheba was her name.
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She's not listed by name, rather
her husband is listed. The same
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one David had killed so that he
could get you, Riah's wife, Bathsheba,
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and David Sin would throw his kingdom
into turmoil. We hear of the
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the greatness of kings who come from
this line of David and from Solomon,
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but where does their kingdom lead?
To? The Babylonian exile. That's listed
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here as well. They are the
failure of the people of Judah and the
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failure of the Kings of Judah were
on full display. And what would our
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own genealogies reveal? Kings, princes, priests, pastors? Does your own
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lineage reveal pagans? Do you descend
from royalty nobility? Do you descend from
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beggars and orphans? Whoever we are, whoever is in our family tree,
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the one thing we all cannot escape
is that first root, the one thing
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that binds all of humanity in an
unfortunate unity, is our relationship to Adam.
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And so Jesus came, the son
of David, the son of Abraham,
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the son of Adam. In Jesus
is one greater than all of these.
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In Jesus we find a son of
Adam who is also the son of
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God, the one who is fully
Adam's son and fully God's son. And
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so do you see what's going on
here? Jesus is the final figure in
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the genealogy of Abraham and David,
because Jesus is the last Adam. After
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Jesus, there's no one listed in
this genealogy. Why? Because Jesus is
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the goal, he's he's the purpose, he's the reason of this genealogy.
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In fact, Jesus is the goal
and purpose of the nation of Israel itself.
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In Him, God's promises to Abraham
and to David are finally fulfilled.
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Now that Jesus, the Christ,
came, there's no need for that genealogy
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to carry on. Christ came to
bring an end to this sinful genealogy at
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his cross by paying the penalty for
our sin, when he would truly save
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his people from their sins. You
See, the new is not simply new
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because it comes after the old.
It's new in the sense that it will
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never grow old, it will never
be replaced by something else that is newer
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than it or better than it.
It's new because it is eternal, imperishable
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and cannot never be defiled. What
is new, therefore, is spiritual and
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and heavenly as he has fulfilled his
promises. In the coming of Jesus Christ,
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he will not fail to bring all
of his promises to their intended culmination.
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Therefore, this, this story of
Christmas, this story of Christ being
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bored born, it's not just something
that makes us feel good. This is
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the truth about you and your lives. As we are caught up in this
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March of history towards its intended finish
line. The history of your savior does
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not simply look back upon the pages
of the Old Testament. It also looks
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forward. And the history of your
savior includes you. As one of my
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professor's told US frequently, Jesus does
not ask to be made a part of
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your story. Whither, you are
being made a part of his story.
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You are being called and gathered together
as his people, as his gospel goes
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forth, as he claims you for
himself, he is uniting himself to you
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and you to him, so that
your names are recorded as well. No,
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not in Matthew's genealogy, in a
book that's even better, in the
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lamb's book of life, and there
your name sits alongside those of Abraham and
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David. Your name sits alongside those
who have looked to the sun for their
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salvation, for such is the purpose
and plan of God. Nothing can ruin
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God's plan. No Evil Schemes,
none of our mistakes, not even our
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sins, nothing can separate us from
the love of our sovereign God. So
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let us rest in the assurance,
by this assurance, by resting in the
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finished work of our Savior, and
let this assurance not lead us to treat
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sin lightly. Rather, let this
assurance motivate us to be courageous, to
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do what is right in the eyes
of the Lord and to obey his will.
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Amen, let's pray
